A Black Knight Rising
by Illuviar
Summary: A reluctant dimension traveler gets reincarnated as the brother of Cornelia and Euphemia li Britannia, remembering his past a few days after Empress Marianne is "assassinated". The game for the Britannian Throne will never be the same again...
1. Prologue & Chapter 1 V2

**Disclaimer: I don't own either of the Code Geass, Gundam Seed or Star wars franchises. This story is not written with commercial purpose in mind. I make no money from it. It is not for sale or rent.**

 **A Black Knight Rising**

 **=ABKR=**

 **Prologue: The Lady of the Lake**

 **12 March 2009 A.T. B**

 **Near Lake Sibhayi**

 **South Africa**

"Please watch. You'll love this!" My "host" grinned at me and pointed at a portable TV set that was perched on a folding table. It was an old, white and black model, powered by a car battery of all things. I suppose that was to be expected considering we were stuck in a jungle somewhere in Africa.

I glared at the bastard, which amused him to no end.

My current situation was a disgrace, one I had to blame on politics back home in Pendragon… that or my luck had gone down the drain. Nevertheless, if I had to chose between those two options – which were the most likely ones, I would say that politics. That was the most likely reason why my plane was shot down over the supposedly neutral country of South Africa, before I landed in this mess.

My predicament wasn't something I've had the misfortune of suffering before. Being stuck into a wooden cage on the shore of a lake wasn't my idea of fun even if I knew of a few half siblings who might have enjoyed being in my place, the lunatics. The supposed rebels who were holding me for ransom – which was highly unlikely to be ever paid, were well cultured and fit looking. All had faint European accents too. In fact they were too fit, clean and disciplined for run of the mill 'freedom fighters'. Those were my first clues in how deep shit I was. Their Euro Sphere accents and the fact that most of them were white, without the tan the locals were likely to have simply confirmed my suspicions.

My captors were either mercenaries, in which case I was likely FUBARed, or European special forces. If the latter was true I had a reasonable chance to be exchanged, for some concessions. In the former I should be doing my best to get the fuck out of here because there was no way they were ever going to let me go home – I could identify them so the various Imperial Intelligence services could hunt them down and make an example of them. Euro SF would have the backing necessary to potentially disappear or at least get out of Britannia's reach. That wasn't true for a bunch of mercenaries.

Escaping was rather hard at the moment. My hands were expertly tied for different bars of my cage, which was in turn rather sturdy; I should know, I spent the last couple of days trying to set myself free, something my hosts found hilarious. To add insult to injury, the local gunship sized mosquitoes were doing their best to eat me alive, which wasn't helping either. Who knows what I might catch from those pests.

Even if all that wasn't enough to make my current existence hell on Earth, the broadcast from home my kidnappers were gleefully showing me made it all worse. It put my situation into perspective too, an even more unpleasant one.

First, there was a rehash of days old news, which I obviously missed. Empresses Marianne was dead. Murdered.

Fuck, fuck, fuck! That suddenly explained the timing of my own misfortunes. I'd bet the family's title that my "accident" happened at the same damn time or close enough.

Marianne was one of the greatest allies my mother's branch of the family had. Combine that with my current predicament and that didn't paint a pretty picture.

She was my favourite aunt too. Aunt Mary... gods damn it. Her murder, my situation... For all I knew the rest of my immediate family was hit too though with no mention of them in the news I could at least hope.

My big sister should be reasonably safe while she was in the middle of her own division, pacifying an uprising in Area Six. My mother and little sister Euphie however... They were amidst that viper nest that was Pendragon, which was just demonstrated to be much less safe for the members of the Royal Family than anyone believed possible.

My thoughts went to Lully and Nunnaly. They were friends of the family, not to mention my own half-siblings. Nunnaly was Euphie's bestest friend, or at least my little sister said so the last time I saw her in the flesh. Truth to be said, the little firecracker was growing on me as of late. As far as I was concerned, the lad was all right too... For a kid that constantly buggered me and Cornelia about telling him war stories. Which was awkward, because we didn't have much to tell that would be appropriate for children's company. Well, that was certainly true for 'Nelly. Until this mess I had the good fortune to avoid action so far.

"You would love to see the next part." My host smiled brightly at me.

I swore to myself that I would see him dead for enjoying the tragedy that struck my family even if it was the last thing I would do. Considering I was stuck in the jungle with no idea where I was and likely no rescue coming, getting free and taking as many of the bastards holding me captive to Hel on my way to Valhalla might be the best I could do... if I was lucky.

The tune of the Anthem sounded for a few seconds, while the small screen was showing the Royal Crest. I instinctively tried to get to attention, making my "host" smirk. Moments later the crest was replaced by a picture from the Emperor's audience chamber, which was packed to the brim by what appeared to be most of the nobles in Pendragon if not the homelands.

My father was sitting on his throne, clad in his usual uniform like suit. He was looking bored while he was examining the assembled nobles.

Nothing new there.

Then it happened. Lelouch marched in, wearing a white uniform and a ridiculously looking cape. He had a furious expression on his face.

"Freya's tits!" I hissed. I could do nothing but watch helplessly the train wreck in progress, while wondering why the hell the inevitable accident that was about to follow had made it to the media. Why the Hel did my siblings let Lelouch meet father in the state the boy was in?!

He went to the edge of the allowed zone before the throne and started speaking, without the customary bowing or kneeling. Bad protocol that, not something Charles could let him get away with when the whole world was watching.

If father cared for once that is. I had the sneaking suspicion that I was watching a set up and my siblings were going to get railroaded.

I fucking hate our politics.

"Your Majesty, my mother has passed away." Lelouch growled.

Damn it kid, you should have put emphasis on the fact that she was the gods damned Empress! That's how you do it!

"What about it?" Charles glanced at Lully, with severe yet still bored expression on his face.

This was a signal that Lelouch hasn't fucked up beyond belief. Not yet at any rate. Yet, the way father responded had predictable results. I groaned while my brother was shaking with rage.

"What about it?!" Lully spat and leaned forward.

"Did you request an audience with the Emperor of Britannia just to say that?" Charles shook his head in disappointment.

Whatever Lelouch was trying to achieve, he was blowing it, because he was letting his rage rule him. This was only going to get worse and I could do nothing. It was obvious that the kid had no allies in the Audience Chamber either, because no one who could be considered a friend would have let him come anywhere near father in the state he was.

What in Hella's name were my siblings thinking?!

"Bring the next one, I don't have time to entertain children." The Emperor glanced at one of his aides, obviously dismissing my brother.

I was silently praying that my little brother would make the smart decision and take the opening father gave him.

Instead, he lost it.

"Father!" Lully shouted and darted forward. The honour guards standing between him and the Emperor moved like a lighting; their ceremonial, yet perfectly functional pikes swinging my brother's way.

All Father had to do was to raise his hand and they stopped in their tracks, shouting "Yes, your Majesty!", before saluting the Emperor and getting back to their posts.

The boredom was gone from Charles' face and was replaced by a thunderous expression.

I wanted to bash my head in something. Preferably head-butting one of my jailers.

"Why didn't you protect mother?!" Lelouch shouted.

Well it was a relevant question. A line of though that might have gotten him whatever he wanted, provided that he hadn't botched his audience already. However, this wasn't how you asked such a question of father in public consider the policies he has been championing for the last decade or so.

"Aren't you the Emperor? Aren't you the greatest man in this country?" My brother continued to rant. "You should have been able to protect her! At very least you should have visited Nunnaly!"

Gods damn it! This was another mistake. Knowing our father's policies, the last sentence was enough to fuck up Lully's chances by itself. If my foolish little brother had gone and outright requested of father to find whoever was responsible and making an example of them, that could have worked beautifully. Even if the Empress had shown "her weakness" by getting herself killed, which in itself was bullshit... Well, that was how the damn court worked nowadays. Raw naked power made one right. Requesting vengeance on someone's behalf could work too. However, ranting on the Emperor about being unable to protect someone who should be able to look after themselves... Such a thing flies against the whole Darwinism our father is so fond of.

Lully fucked up, big time. It was time to see with how much shit Cornelia and me would have to deal with in order to keep him and Nunna safe. If I got out of here alive that is. If not, then I would have to count on 'Nelly to look after our siblings. At least she knew what the Hel she was doing.

I was pointedly trying not to think what this whole mess did to Nunnaly.

"I have no use for the weak." Charles stated. There was a small hint of sadness that those who really knew the bastard might have seen. Or perhaps I was giving father too much credit.

The fuck was happening back home?!

"The weak?" Lully parroted.

"This is the true nature of the Royal Family." Father explained the obvious. He didn't add that this whole mess was his and great-grandfather's fault. One ensured the Emblem of Blood Era happened, the other had the chance to clean up the whole gods damned mess. Yet, while father finally got the Great Depression ended and put the Empire back into ascension, he also caused the Hel that was today's court with his crazy Darwinian policy.

It was something that I was painfully aware of. It was one of the reasons why I joined the military. Being perceived as weak was unhealthy in our circles. Besides, I wanted to be just like my big sister, who was my idol as I was growing up, well to be honest 'Nelly still was. Plus she was one of the very few decent siblings I have, which is saying something considering that we are about a hundred or so. I lost count sometime ago.

"Then I don't want the right to succeed the throne!" Lelouch declared.

That sentence froze the blood in my veins and I went rigid against the ropes binding me. Unless Charles decided to be uncharacteristically merciful, the little idiot just doomed both himself and Nunnaly! There were people that would love to make their lives Hel just to get back on Marianne, who was now safely dead. There were others who would gladly see them dead for the same reason.

"Gods damn it Lully!" I hissed through clenched teeth.

My shock was mirrored on the faces of the nobles in the Chamber, which were conveniently shown by the camera crews. There were loud gasps and cries of disbelief. One simply didn't throw away his right to inherit in the face of the Emperor himself, no matter their personal feeling on the subject.

The way our father's expression shifted at those words made his rising fury obvious.

"I won't succeed you or get in any more conflicts!" Lelouch screamed.

I simply watched the clusterfuck with a gaping mouth. The kid was determined to dig his hole deeper and deeper.

"You are dead." Our father declared. There was grim resignation in his voice mixed with fury. "You were dead since the day you were born."

Translation: You fucked up so much, I can't recognize that you were ever my son. Bloody Hel...

"Who gave you the clothes you wear right now? Your home? The food you eat? Your very life?" Father continued.

Further translation: You own nothing. You are nothing. There is no one protecting you now. Most importantly, you've earned nothing!

That's how the nobility of the Empire would be seeing him and his sister right now: pariahs who could be struck without reprecusions.

"So you weren't even alive in the first place! Yet, you show such insolence by coming here and making demands! Lelouch!" The name was spat as a curse.

My brother stepped back, stumbled and fell on his ass, gasping as the extent of his fuck up was becoming to dawn on him. Or perhaps it was mere shock. Frankly I had no idea what the little idiot was thinking.

"A dead person as you has no rights." Father said outright what he was insinuating so far.

Remaining within the Empire outside of the protection of my family would be a death sentence. As far as I knew, Cornelia was either with her division or searching for me. That left mother, who had lost her greatest ally and best friend. She had Euphie to think about too... That meant that those Lelouch and Nunnaly were on their own, for now. We were probably one of the only allies on which they could count at the moment and neither of us was in a position to do a damn thing to help them. I had the sneaking suspicion that the other allies of the former Empress were at least in as much trouble as my family.

"You'll go to Japan with Nunnaly. As a Prince and Princess, you will be a good bargaining chip. Or at least she will. Crippled or not, she is at least my daughter." Father practically exiled them

That was a polite way of saying that while Lully could forget about any ambitions he might have ever had within the Empire, Nunnaly wasn't necessary tainted by his foolish stunt. That's what a part my mind was telling me, while another was raging because the girl I was becoming to view as another favourite little sister has been caught in Pendragon's political games and crippled. On the other hand... by exiling them father would put them out of the reach of some of their enemies. However, without further protection...

I wanted to kill someone. My captors would do if I ever got out.

The news clip ended, replaced by the Royal Crest. My host shut down the TV and looked me in the eyes.

"Are you proud to be a Britannian Prince?" He smirked before leaving me alone.

I needed to get out of here. Now.

 **=ABKR=**

It was later the same evening. I was still bound in my cage, with the added benefit of cool rain splashing everywhere and making me even more miserable if that was possible at all. The bloody giant mosquitoes were unfazed, still doing their damned best to eat me.

I cared for none of that. My comfort didn't matter considering what happened to my family. Aunt Mary was dead. That combined with my predicament meant that I couldn't count on either my mother or Euphie being safe. Or still alive for that matter.

It was infuriating. I was ready to do anything to be abler to check on them and make sure they were safe.

"Anything?" A melodious voice asked.

I blinked. The rain... it had stopped, frozen in the air. The few of my captors that I could see were still as statues, halted in mid-motion too.

I had lost it then. Just great. Probably heatstroke or some nasty disease brought to me courtesy of the fucking mosquitoes.

"You are surprisingly sane, my former _K_ _night_." The same voice rang with an amused chuckle.

I looked around and saw _Her._ An ethereal figure was walking upon the surface of the lake, coming closer and closer. Her face was cast in shadow; her feminine features were all but invisible because of her hair, which was a blazing starcsape that was almost painful to look at. It flowed over her form like a cloak concealing her features.

"I can give you enough power to keep them safe, if you play your cards right. I would ask for two boons in exchange." Her voice was alluring and painfully familiar. It tugged on something deep within me.

I narrowed my eyes at her. This delusion sounded too good to be true.

"What's the catch?" I played along with the delusion. Did it matter if I ignored her? Would she simply go away? I don't think madness worked that way.

"I can promise you that I won't ask of you anything that will be detrimental to the brothers and sisters you care about. Neither to you mother, who is alive by the way." The delusion said.

"Good to know. If I say no?" I continued to talk with, well myself. Could I still be considered crazy if I was very much aware of that fact?

"I leave and you follow your fate, whatever it may be."

I could swear she was smirking.

"Okay... As far as delusions go, you are on the nicer side of things. It's not like I have much to lose..." I trailed off and nodded towards the ropes binding me. "Care to just release me and be on your way?"

"I just might. I owe you that much, my _Knight_." She put an emphasis on the last word. "Then you get shot." This time she was the one nodding, her head leaning towards my guards. There were three of them in sight, all armed with assault rifles.

"That's not an outcome I would like." I admitted. I had to get home, to see that my family was safe.

"That's good. As I said, you are rather saneish all things considered!" She laughed at a joke that made sense to her.

"What do you want?" I inquired.

"For you to remember. To be my _Knight_." Despite being unable to see her face I somehow knew she was smiling softly at me.

"That's not helpful." Delusion all right. One that was becoming stranger by the minute. For a moment I wondered if my captors had fed me some funny meds. That would explain it, all right.

"All right. I accept." I jested. Besides, I was curious to see what the hallucination would do now.

"I'm glad you made this choice, my way-land _Knight_." I could feel her beaming at me.

She took a step forward and suddenly she was standing next to me in the cage while just a heartbeat ago she was on the edge of the lake. A soft hand touched my head and I screamed.

My mind burned as I remembered lives I didn't live, places and worlds that should have been impossible outside of science fiction.

Perhaps it all ended in moments. Or was it years? I couldn't tell. There was only pain and memories flashing before my eyes. They were mine yet weren't if that made any sense.

The roller-coaster ride in my head came to an abrupt end. I could remember him. Delkatar Veil, who once upon a time was a soldier on an Earth different yet the same. He died only to be thrown in yet another world where he became a Dark Lord of the Sith.

I remembered his patron too. Her shenanigans cost him everything.

"You." I glared at my patron. If I knew what my agreement would mean I would have gladly died.

"Me!" She waved cheerfully. "You remember. I'm glad it worked."

"I remember Veil. I remember you." I spat.

"I don't know how you managed to preserve your soul in the end, my _Knight._ Make no mistake, I'm glad you did." There was genuine affection in her voice, but it meant nothing. What I could see standing above me – it was a mere projection. Smoke and mirrors, nothing more.

"What do you want? Is this world to die for your amusement too?!"

"My _Knight_. You know better than that. What we did, it was an act of desperation. If we, you had failed, this would have been consumed too. Delkatar Veil did his part."

"He died. Even if he could have somehow survived his victory, he had no reason to keep coming. A man could lose everything only so many times." I hissed. I knew what deals with this entity turn out – there was only ruin at the end of the tunnel.

"He did. Yet you carry his soul. I could have brought him back, you know. However, I'm not that heartless. No matter where his mind ended, may he rest in peace. My deal is now with you, my _Knight._ "

"That's a contradiction."

"Not from where I'm standing. It makes perfect sense from here." My ears rang with amused laugher.

"What do you want? If it was merely for me to serve you, you would have waited until I died to offer me a deal. That's what you did with Veil." At least that's why his memories told me.

I blinked in confusion. My head throbbed. I... I could remember, though those memories were odd. Distant – more akin to something I've read and watched than something I experienced. There were emotions coming with those memories, yet I couldn't recall them unless I concentrated hard.

"True enough." I somehow knew she was giving me a demure smile. "You know that usually my kind can't directly intervene. However, the fact that you possess Veil's soul gives me an opening. I can restore a part of him to you. You, Delkatar li Britannia were meant to die in this jungle. Your survival will send ripples outwards changing things. I won't give you a specific task. I don't have to."

"You did that with Veil." I pointed out while my mind was racing.

"Only the first time. When he became a Sith, my tasks were mere... red herring was it? I knew his nature. I knew him better than he knew himself. The consequences of his goals aligned with my agenda. The same is true for you, my _Knight._ " Her voice was chock full with amusement. It wasn't exactly malicious but it was at my expense

"Not buying it." If what I now remembered was even partially true, she was one of the last being in the multiverse I would trust with anything.

"You know that for all my power I have severe limits on how much I could meddle." She chuckled.

"Says you." I countered.

"Yes, I say so. Otherwise, I wouldn't have needed Veil, nor you."

I examined my new memories for everything I could recall about this entity. Gods... She was the closest thing to a real deity I might ever meet.

"It was all a set-up. I was a mere pawn meant to lose everything at the end. A sacrifice to protect you." I snapped, though I knew it was a foolish thing to do. Especially when it wasn't me the one betrayed.

"Delkatar Veil. Dark Lord of the Sith and so many other things and people he was while in my service. He had a glorious purpose to serve – his sacrifice saved us all. It's true I deceived him. Used him with the full knowledge that his success would mean he would lose everything he ever cared about. The only gift I could give him in the end was that of death and eternal peace." She looked at me. "Your very existence meant I couldn't do even that, Delkatar li Britannia, because the soul you possess was his." There was a distant hint of fury in her voice. This wasn't a being accustomed to being denied. Somehow I've thrown a wrench in her plans and no matter if it was for better or worse she was displeased.

I closed my eyes. Was she telling the truth? My mind was finally settling. The memories of multiple past lives were at the back of it, changing me surprisingly little, personality wise. Most were fading like distant dreams until only Veil's time as a Sith and before that as a soldier of the Eurasian and Earth Federations remained. I had the vague sense that this life, my life, was what he hoped to be his last. A one last, normal lifetime before returning to oblivion forever.

Thanks to his treacherous patron that wouldn't be happening.

"My time here is running out." The shimmering being wilted on herself. "My _Knight,_ I know you." She repeated. "Both heart and soul. I know what's precious to you. Who you want to protect. That's all I need." She leaned forward. "As I said, you were meant to die in this forest. I just gave you the tools you'll need to survive and continue making waves. That is enough."

"I see..." I trailed off and focused on my new memories. "It's been a long, long time yet I recall few bits and pieces about this world." Those fragmented memories felt a bit brighter, undoubtedly so they would get my attention.

"A long time? That it has." She interrupted me.

"Something about the end of the world, or changing it at gun point?" I shrugged. "And what's this about a Zero? Lelouch becoming some kind of terrorist? I know he fucked up but that's..." I trailed off.

A certain image flashed before my eyes. It was Euphie. She was in her late teens, wearing a pink dress. Of course it was pink, that was her favourite colour.

A ghost of a smile appeared on my lips. Then it froze.

It was my little sister, again in the same gown. She was clutching her chest, blood spreading under her fingers. There was surprise etched on her face. Her eyes were blazing with purple light. I could barely see the outline of a crane like symbol in them.

That wasn't going to happen! I would keep her safe no matter what!

"It's not much, my _Knight._ However, you recall enough. In less than a decade the only one li Britannia still left upon this world might have been Cornelia if she played her cards right. You will fight destiny and fate itself to change that outcome. By doing that you'll change the course of this world in a way I find pleasing or you'll die trying. That's our compact, my _Knight._ I promised you the power to protect those precious to you. It is Veil's power. Your own."

A soft, warm finger brushed a tear from my cheek. I barely registered it. Seeing my sister shot, even if it was only a vision of a possible future... That shook me to the core.

"You're your own person, Delkatar li Britannia. Use my gift well and don't ever forget who you are. Fare thee well, my _Knight_."

"Veil wanted to be left alone at the end. No part of your games any longer." I spoke as I recalled his last moments.

"Indeed." I could clearly hear the regret in her voice.

"You could have brought him back. He would have consumed me, making me a small part of him."

"Perhaps." She sighed. "I vowed I won't. You do carry his soul. He should have been allowed to rest. The place he ended after his final death... that death game he fought in afterwards and the prize he won... That's the reason why you exist, li Britannia. I believe he wanted the chance to live one last, simple and happy life. Yet..."

"I lived a good life until now..." I trailed off. Until aunt Mary was murdered, Veil got his wish fulfilled. My life was happy even if it wasn't simple with me being my father's son. "You altered the memories. I have the information, perhaps even the skills, yet I haven't been changed beyond recognition by his memories. I don't feel any different, but I know I should be. I should be drowning in all these memories and if they didn't kill me someone else would have emerged." I looked for answers at the ethereal figure.

"I cheated. I would prefer to gain the services of my _Knight_ , yes. Yet I won't bring him back to life. I won't break my vow. You're similar enough and by the time your path on this Earth is done, you'll have most of the necessary skills to do the job." She was back next to me and gently squeezed my shoulder. "If I could have aided you enough without making this deal I would have. I owe Veil that much and more."

"So I'm the next best thing. That does wonders for my ego." I deadpanned.

"Well, you know the alternative..." She trailed off. "Have fun, little prince." There was something different in her voice. An echo of familiar power. "Don't make little Euphie cry."

I could feel it. Like a cool wind passing through me. An echo, of every being in the universe, her very heartbeat. It was the soft warmth of the sun, without it's harsh glare. It was the eye of a storm, which was made by the passions of every living thing, turned into energy, into a chorus of emotions.

For the first time since I was reborn as Delkatar Li Britannia, she sang within me. I could feel her. She was like a calm stream, that was steadily growing stronger. She was feeding on my emotions, my anger and fear for my family. She was empowered by my love for my mother and siblings.

Veil's patron smiled at me. Our patron now.

"Fare thee well, Delkatar li Britannia."

The rain resumed falling as if nothing had happened. For the longest moment I wondered if all that just happened had been a hallucination. A heartbeat passed. Then another. The world felt so much more vivid. More real. It was hard to describe. How do you tell a blind man about your favourite colour? How do you explain to the deaf how the voices of your mother and sisters affects you?

The Force was all around me. In me too.

This hasn't been a mere delusion. Knowing that for a fact was both an immense relief and a tremendous burden. Our patron was gone and hopefully I wouldn't be meeting her again for a very, very long time.

I recalled the memory of a teenage Euphie being shot. My heart was gripped by a rage so potent I could taste it. The poisonous touch of the Dark Side came unbidden. It whispered promises of power and vengeance in the back of my mind. The Dark Side begged me to unleash her.

I hesitated. Veil was a Sith. A monster. Not the kind of man I would want in the same galaxy with my sisters, much less on the same planet or even related to them. However, the other path, that of a Jedi – it was closed to me. If I walked it I would have to place the good of the whole world above the fate of my family and I could never do that. The people I cared about were the reason why I agreed to this deal even if it was in jest at a time I didn't really know what it meant.

What could I do?

The answer was deceptively simple, yet very complicated in the long term. I would be forging my own path. This wasn't a world where the Jedi and Sith had a legacy to uphold and be hold them down. What else could I do? I had to protect my family and the first step was getting out of here in one piece.

I opened myself fully for the Force. It flowed through my body strengthening my limbs. Veil's memories about his power were vivid enough so I more or less knew what I was doing. I focused and my power eagerly responded.

The ropes binding me snapped. I released a wave of pure telekinetic power, which shattered the wooden cage around me.

I stood up, the Force revitalizing my muscles.

The closest of my captors shook out of his shock and pointed his weapon at me. Surprisingly he didn't immediately open fire.

"Halt! On your knees!" The terrified man shouted.

"Your fear is delicious." Those words came unbidden. The Dark Side sang within me, eager to be unleashed.

 **=ABKR=**

 **Chapter 1: A Family Reunion**

 **=ABKR=**

 **Part 1: Finding a way back home**

 **12 March 2009 A.T. B**

 **Near Lake Sibhayi**

 **South Africa**

Having the might of the Force at my disposal for the first time... The eager anticipation I could feel coming from the Dark Side and feeling the boundless energy I could tap into... It made me drunk with power.

I knew better. Truly. Veil had spent more than a decade hunting down Sith who lost it. He saw first hand what the Dark Side could do to people who surrender to her ministrations. Nevertheless, in those first moments after utilizing the Force for the first time, its power went to my head. I felt all powerful, invincible even.

It almost got me killed.

The four kidnappers nearby weren't the problem. Only one of them had his wits with him and he didn't immediately open fire. The other were thrown away by my telekinetic push hard enough to either dazzle or even permanently incapacitate them.

The mercenary who remained on his feet should have immediately opened fire at me. Instead he demanded my surrender. I didn't know if it was his fear, discipline or something else that held his hand for the moment. It didn't really matter right then and there.

I willed the Force to act and his rifle flew in my outstretched hand before he could press the trigger. Then I sent him flying back with a telekinetic wave, which also picked up two downed enemies who were on the ground between us. I was still reacting and not really thinking. The sense of power, it was incredible.

The last man from the closest group was raising his weapon, aiming in my direction. I pulled him towards me, and used the AR in my right hand as a club, bashing his head in. Feeling him die was a heady feeling. Killing him was so easy, so empowering. I didn't think, simply laughed at the sense of power coursing through my veins.

All I could say in my defence was that I was drunk on the Dark Side. In the first moments after using the Force it was a miracle I didn't fall completely under its sway. I could felt her power. I felt untouchable.

A part of that was happening was understandable I guess. With the Force at my side, a small group of even superbly trained soldiers who had never faced something like me, shouldn't have been a threat. It was a very stupid conclusion in hindsight, especially when some time later I remembered how many Force Adepts were killed by simple professional soldiers, especially if they were underestimated.

Right then and there none of that mattered. The Dark Side promised everything I wanted and it seemed she was delivering. I was drowning in her. Falling and fast.

Needless to say, my new-found sense of invincibility failed to provide protection against bullets. That's what happens when you don't pay attention.

I did feel the Force whispering a warning, though I almost missed it as lost as I was within the Dark Side. Was it something in Veil's memories? The training I got by the Britannian army? I never knew for sure. The important part was that something within me heeded that warning and I rolled away from where I stood in the open like a bloody idiot. Instead of getting a burst in the back, only a single bullet struck me, piercing my left shoulder. Hot lead tore through flesh and bone, lighting my nerves on fire. Striking the ground hard and rolling away sent spikes of agony through me as the wound hit the moist soil again and again. Fragments of my mangled bone bit deeper in my flesh aggravating the wound.

The pain infuriated me even further, however the sheer surprise of it managed to push back the haze of the Dark Side for a brief moment. I was still rolling trying to outpace a line of bullets chewing the ground in my wake. I used every little trick I could draw from Veil's memories to keep the madness of the Dark Side at bay. I focused on my pain and on the burning fury in my heart, then channelled them into the Force. My mind became coldly clear and suddenly I was back in control. For a heartbeat I marvelled how close I came to falling, how easy it would have been.

Then the bullets came even closer. I used my pain as a fuel to concentrate the Force into a barrier between me and the flying lead and finally stopped rolling. I took a moment to take in my bearing – which was on the white sand of the lake's shore. I was in the open, exposed. Only the night's darkness and the fact that the people shooting at me lacked night vision kept me from getting shredded until now. I used the Force to locate the source of the attack – there were three signatures advancing to my position and they were virtually invisible in the dark. At least four more were coming from the other end of the camp, though their advance was wary and they were sweeping everything for unseen enemies.

I used the Force to numb the pain so it wasn't distracting me, which it did even as I used the sensation as fuel for the Dark Side. Time was running out and I needed to dispatch the approaching trio now. My concentration was wavering and I couldn't keep the barrier for much longer.

With my shoulder numbed, I could spare enough concentration to enhance my speed. The barrier would hold for few more seconds and that had to be enough. I went for the approaching enemy at impossibly fast sprint making me appear as a blur.

They didn't panic, nor break. Instead, the soldiers proved they weren't common mercenaries by standing their ground and putting aimed fire into me. Fortunately thanks to my unnatural speed and the twilight they missed more often than not. The barrier absorbed what bullets struck me and only shattered when their magazines rand dry. The soldiers, for given their discipline they couldn't be anything less, still kept cool. Perhaps it was their training or there simply wasn't enough time for them to panic. It was irrelevant. The point man let his rifle drop and went for his side-arm while his buddies were already reloading much, much faster than one could anticipate. Their actions had a practiced ease to them betraying long hours of dedicated training.

Against a normal human they would have been fast enough. If the Force didn't make me supernaturally fast, the soldiers would have pumped me full of lead.

I didn't give them the chance.

When I was close enough I screamed at them, putting all my pain and rage into it. The fear I felt when seeing Euphie clutching her blooded dress. The Dark Side responded, enhancing my shout. I could see the very air before me rippling outwards as my scream went forward and struck the men. The point man managed to get out a shot in my direction, but the bullet was sent away by the shock-wave of my scream. The falling raindrops were blown away as if picked up by hurricane. The sound wave shattered small trees and tore asunder brushes until it struck the men. They were picked up and bodily thrown back only to land hard and tumble over the moist ground in broken heaps.

I could feel their life force vanishing, leaving behind cooling piles of brutalized meat and shattered bone.

Then the other group opened fire. Their shooting was mostly blind meant to suppress the enemy. Still bullets began buzzing near me. I I immediately hit the deck, making my shoulder flare up in pain. I grit my teeth and ignored the agony as good as I could. The numbness I put over the wound was quickly dissipating and I would soon need to do something about my wrecked shoulder before the blood loss weakened me too much.

It was time to stop fucking around before I got shot again. I quickly searched Veil's memories for what I needed while more and more bullets came uncomfortably close to me. I redirected my concentration upon the Force once I found what I was looking for. Shadows surrounded my form, making me melt out of sight. More energy wrapped around me under my guidance until it formed into a sound-dampening field.

That's what I should have done in the fist place. Good luck shooting what you can't see nor hear.

Once that I was invisible, I got out of my position and dashed towards the forest while keeping low. There was no reason to present a bigger target even if they couldn't see me. At the same time, I was using what little concentration I could spare to scan the immediate area, which was putting an unpleasant strain on my mind. My head was thumping with dull ache and I knew it would only get worse. At this rate I might be mentally spent before my body couldn't handle any more channelling the Force.

For a heartbeat I frowned at that thought. Doing all that used to be easy or so my memories told me. Well, it was easy – for Veil who had trained both his body and mind to use the Force for decades. The spirit was willing but the flesh was weak.

I shook my head to clearing my thoughts. Those were issues for another time. I could sense seven people who were still alive. Only five of them appeared to be conscious and one of those was in the lake after I threw him there. That left the group that was sweeping the camp searching for me as immediate threats. Huh, I could swear there were more of the bastards. My concentration wavered and I returned my mind in maintaining my stealth techniques.

I sneaked on their right flank leaned behind a large three. I let my invisibility go and used the Force to compel my wound to stop bleeding. It was another temporarily measure but it wasn't like I could try fixing my shoulder before I've dispatched the enemy. I got my stealth back on and went closer so I could study the fire-team. A pair had tactical vests over their shirts, they were probably part of this night's guard detail. The rest looked dishevelled. They were probably sleeping when I started my little breakout.

I concentrated, letting the sound-dampening go away and leaving only the shadows as my defence. Then I reached through the Force and grabbed the man furthest away. My power picked him up and left him chocking half a meter in the air. His closest buddy swept his weapon that way. The one in the middle continued covering their front while the last one swept to his right and then back. They also dropped low to make themselves lesser targets.

Good training all right. Not very useful against an unknown threat but from what I saw if I somehow got myself free without having access to the Force there was no way in Hel I could overcome them. A successful escape in the night was unlikely either.

I smiled grimly. I did have the Force on my side.

It was time to end this. I let my mind fly free, then I slammed all my Force enhanced willpower in the middle man. He left a strangled cry as his feeble natural defences shattered, leaving him little more than a drooling idiot. Forcing my will upon his wrecked mind even for a few moments was unexpectedly hard. There was some kind of resistance I hadn't encountered before, yet it was too little too late. The unlucky soldier became a pupped for my will. It should have been trivial to turn him around and shoot the man closest to me in the back. Instead, I had to struggle every step of the way. Still, it worked. He let out a moan, but aimed his rifle at the back of his buddy and pressed the trigger. Two three round bursts at practically point blank range took out another enemy.

Meanwhile, the one I chocked with my power was already dead and dropped to the ground as the telekinetic grasp around his chest dissipated. That left only one present threat and the man swimming towards the shore.

I had special plans for both of them. First, it was the dangerous one. I pulled his weapon out of his hands using telekinesis. Finally the composure of one of those bastards broke. He cried in surprise and began fumbling for his side-arm, only to look dumbly as I got it too.

He was afraid and his fear was delicious. Why did I enjoy the man's terror even if he was an enemy?

More pain flared up in my shoulder and it began bleeding again. I had to fix it now so I pulled the disarmed soldier towards me, leaving him suspended in the air in front of me. Despite his terror or perhaps because of it, he was fumbling with a grenade attached to his harness. I got his hands in telekinetic grip ensuring there won't be any explosive surprises and let the shadows around me go.

His eyes threatened to pop out of his sockets when he recognized me.

I stumbled forward nearly falling to my knees. I could feel my body screaming in protest and swore. I've been using too much power too fast and I still needed to channel more. My distress gave the soldier a bit of hope – little did he know he had run flat out of luck.

I grit my teeth not to scream as I stumbled forward until I was next to my terrified captive and placed my right hand on his chest. I searched for his life force and then I tugged at it with the Dark Side. The darker part of my mind watched with glee at the man's terror as he felt his very life being drained away.

At the same time I felt stronger. At least physically. The strain that I placed my body through by using so much of the Force in such a short amount of time wasn't going away. It couldn't be erased that easily. On the other hand, my wound was getting better at impossible rate. Which meant that I had to grind my teeth as I felt pieces of my bone move through my flesh before they were back in place and started knitting. After a few seconds I lost it and screamed in pain. My joint popped, bone fragments shifted, flesh became healthier. Odin's balls, it hurt like a sonofabitch!

I don't know how long it took, but if Veil's memories were anything to go by, it should have been moments.

It felt like fucking hours of agony.

When the pain abated, I found myself on my knees, next to a desiccated mummy. The cool rain was gently falling upon me and the night was unexpectedly quiet. Apparently my screams were enough to cower the local wildlife for a time.

While I still could feel the Force all around me, I was no longer actively using her. That explained why the strain was gone, even if I felt like Thor used his hammer to tenderize me before feeding me too one of Loki's pets.

I looked at my shoulder. It wasn't totally healed. I could see an ugly flesh wound that went almost down to the bone but that was it. At least it was no longer bleeding. I gave my arm a gentle try and while it hurt as if someone was stabbing me with red hot blade, the joint actually worked. I carefully stretched the fingers of my left hand then clutched them into a fist.

Good. I wasn't crippled.

I made a mental note to be careful with it in the foreseeable future. I knew that the newly knitted bones weren't as strong as before. It would take at least a few days for that, if I used the Force to make the healing process faster. It was too bad that there was no bacta on Earth. That wasn't something I could recreate despite Veil's memories. Nor kolto for that matter.

I called on a bit of my power and cold fire spreading through my veins making me I gasp in pain. Fuck. I overdid it all right. I kept swimming through the Force for a few seconds until I confirmed that there were only three other living people in the vicinity, counting the man whose mind I shattered earlier. I noted their locations and let go, feeling a sudden relief as my body was no longer under the strain of the Force running through me.

The man with shattered mind was of no consequence. For all intends and purposes he was a corpse. That left one unconscious soldier who survived being tossed around at the beginning of my escape and the unlucky bastard in the lake. He had the presence of mind to switch directions and try swimming as far away from the camp as he could. That wasn't going to help him.

Still, he would be in reasonable range to be telekinetically plucked out of the water for couple of minutes. That's why I first went to secure the unconscious man who I hastily tied up with belts I gathered from the corpses of his buddies. I picked up a med pack while I was at it, then finally it was time to deal with the last enemy swimming. With the rain and the darkness there was no way I could have located him without the Force. Unfortunately for him, with my power I could see his signature clear as a day. My telekinetic shove might have wounded him.

Before I was spent for the time being I was able to pluck him straight out of the water, depose him on the shore and send a bolt of Sith lighting modified to stun instead of torture or kill. That turned out to be much too close for comfort because I collapsed to my knees a moment after my energy bolt slammed into his chest. I had to crawl to him so I could secure him before he had a chance to awake. With how exhausted I was I wasn't going to bet on him remaining stunned for long.

Only now I could spare some time to bandage my shoulder. While rummaging through the med-pack I found painkillers, antiseptics and even four caffeine tablets which I was pretty sure weren't standard fare. I popped two in my mouth, ignored the painkillers for the time being because I needed my mind as sharp as it was going to get and began the painstaking task of bandaging myself.

While I was taking care of my wound I finally got a bit of time to think. How many soldiers did I face? Ten? Twelve? With the Force I should have been able to dispatch them without trouble. Certainly I shouldn't be spent when the dust settled.

Or should I? Veil could certainly do it, however I wasn't him. This wasn't his body, which had been trained and accustomed to channel copious amounts of power on regular basis. For all I knew, I might never be as strong in the Force as he was. That was an unsettling though, yet... I didn't really need to be that powerful, did I? I had only Earth to worry about. Even a fraction of his power would be a tremendous power multiplier if used prudently. As long as I didn't let the Dark Side run things again because in that case I would get myself killed or worse.

Thanks to his memories I could recall people consumed by the Dark Side. Their priorities changed, they no longer cared for the same things and that was simply unacceptable. The mere thought that I could fall so far I wouldn't spare a second thought about hurting mother or one of my precious sisters was terrifying. I had to make sure something like that could never happen.

When my wound was bandaged, I went to scavenge some supplies – food and water rations, weapons and ammo along with tactical vest and a backpack to carry them. While doing that I put the brain-dead man out of his misery and finally returned to my two captives. It was interrogation time.

I prepared a knife, a few sharpened sticks, ampoules with ammonia – all was ready. It was time to let my inner Sith play.

 **=ABKR=**

 **13 March 2009 A.T. B**

 **Near Lake Sibhayi**

 **South Africa**

I was grateful that the rain didn't stop. It made washing the blood that splattered me during the interrogation much easier to wash out. I would have preferred to use the Force and simply take the necessary info from the minds of my captives, however that wasn't practical in this instance. I would need my powers to get to civilization or in case another strike team arrived to check up on the one I took out last night. Besides, as burned out as I was I didn't rate my chances well – I was more likely to either fry their brains or collapse than get useful Intel. That's why I did it the old fashioned way. Veil had been trained in both sophisticated and quick and crude interrogation techniques by both Imperial Intelligence and the people at the Sith Academy. I put that knowledge to good use during the night. Let me tell you – given enough time and the 'right' incentive everyone breaks. The emphatic sense I got through the Force was a two edged sword – I didn't need to guess when they were lying to me. In the same time I felt their agony, _enjoyed it._ That rattled me more than I wanted to admit. One of my captives died before giving me anything more than confirmation that I didn't run afoul a bunch of mercenaries. Those Hella damned bastards were Euro special forces.

The other told me a lot before he expired. The two sections of EU SF troopers I took out knew my plane's flight path. They had missiles deployed to shoot down my transport and had orders to take me into captivity and kill everyone else who might have survived. I was meant to be used as a potential bargaining chip and killed once my usefulness was at its end. He didn't know if there were contingencies in case I somehow escaped or if a rescue unit managed to spirit me away – only their commander was privy to that Intel and I used one of his men to shoot him in the back so that was a no go.

The conclusions I could make were grim – at best the Empire had some pretty big security leaks. Considering the murder of aunt Mary, it was more likely that my flight path had been sold as a ploy to get me killed by people in Pendragon, which was even worse. This was an escalation of court politics that came unpleasantly close to the Emblem of Blood period father stopped when he took power.

I had to assume that another EU strike team would be on its way here, perhaps with air support too. If I was lucky, there was an Imperial rescue party trying to locate me. I would have to make contact with them if they existed, make sure they were here to bring me home alive too and not to ensure I stayed dead. Otherwise I would have to make my way to civilization and seek a way home by myself.

I wasn't so arrogant to assume that I could deal with unknown number of Imperial and/or EU special forces operatives even with the Force. Last nigh left me exhausted. Another encounter so soon might prove fatal, yet it wasn't up to me. I had to decide what to do.

Whistling a tune that no one upon this Earth knew, I finished cleaning up and went to get myself armed with the best that the Euros had at their disposal. After that was done I went to their makeshift kitchen and tried their MRE's, which weren't half bad. They actually had pizza of all things, which was edible too!

Still, I couldn't make up my mind. Wait here to be find by friend or foe? Go through the jungle towards the closest town? I was loath to stay put, yet this place was days of hiking away from civilization. The closest town would be the logical place to watch if I would appear from the jungle too...

When I polished up the first decent meal I had in days, I tentatively accessed the Force. It was unpleasant but no longer outright painful. Wasting no time, I scanned my surroundings. Not finding any people in my range I made my way into the forest and searched for a nice perch. I found it in an old tree with thick branches, one of which made a nice position to wait for my possible ride out. So I climbed up and sat down, waiting. The three was thick enough to prove good cover when combined with the Force if someone decided to bomb the camp off the face of the world so it was going to be useful. My mind was made – I would take some time to recover my strength and see if I could either ambush an enemy force sent to finish the job or if I could link up with someone friendly, because otherwise I would be stuck in Africa for weeks.

It was couple of hours later, during one of my periodical sweeps with the Force that I noticed them. Ten signatures were fast approaching from the east. Probably on a helicopter. They were too low to be coming in on plane. Too close too. My range wasn't what it used to be... well it wasn't Veil's that's for certain.

They were a few clicks away and the only reason I could find them was that they were the only sentients beside me in the region, which was what I was looking for.

Huh. The rumours that our special ops folks had stealthy helicopters were apparently true. I should have been able to hear the bird approaching by now. I concentrated and used the Force to check up what they were doing. Their signatures had stopped their approach. So they were disembarking. Two pilots, I think. That left an eight man squad – two fire-teams. Of course, I shouldn't be assuming they were Britannian before I laid my eyes upon them. With my luck they could very well be another EU kill team.

Now I had to decide how to greet them...

 **=ABKR=**

In the end I decided to try subverting the unit, to avoid another confrontation if it was at all possible. That would only work if they were Imperial otherwise I would need to strike hard and fast before they knew what hit them.

Just in case I went deeper in the forest, intent on confronting them in a place with a lot of cover, where I might be able to vanish out of sight even if my power failed me.

I sneaked towards them until I was on their left flank. The men and women were moving cautiously through the night, carefully sweeping for traps that might give up their approach. They weren't in any hurry either. I think that they planned to hit the camp just before dawn which was still hours away. I melted in the shadows and slowly showed my head around a three careful not to disturb the shrubs around its base.

I had to enhance my vision through the Force to see clearly, but it was worth it. From the equipment and uniforms this looked like a Britannian unit all right. I got back behind the three and took a deep breath.

"Hi there!" I shouted from behind my cover that looked sturdy enough to stop an RPG round.

Needless to say, they scattered, getting behind the closest cover they could find.

Surprisingly, no one opened fire. Perhaps it was my upper crust Britannian accent or they were thinking that I was a distraction to let other nasty locals to sneak up to them.

"I'll make an educated guess. You've been sent do clean up a bunch of fucks that had irritated the higher ups back home." I continued in nonchalant manner. "You may calm down, too. We are the only alive people in the area, if you don't count the crew of whatever transport brought you here."

"Who the fuck are you?" A man grunted just loud enough to be heard, but so quiet that you couldn't pinpoint his exact location.

"Me? I'm Seventh Prince Delkatar Li Britannia. The idiots you were sent to kill shot down my plane a few days ago and were keeping me captive until last night."

"Yeah, pull the other one." Someone snorted aloud.

"If this was an ambush meant to kill you, the first you would have known about it would have been when machine gun fire and grenades decided to liven up your night." I dead-panned. "We wouldn't be having such a nice chat otherwise. The question is if you've been sent on a general search and destroy mission of if I'm specifically one of the targets to disappear tonight."

"Fuck. I hate politics." Someone grumbled.

Ah, so at least one of them got my meaning. And the possible mess they were in.

"If you are an actual Britannian Prince and not just a joker that begs to be shot, no, we aren't here to kill you. You Highness." The last was added as an afterthought by the man who spoke first.

"You sure about that? I can be a Prince and an idiot that needs shooting on general principle. At least a few of my siblings are just like that." I quipped.

"May Odin have mercy on my soul." Someone grunted. "I'm getting up and coming out. If this is a trap, we'll reap ourselves a big honour guard for Valhalla."

"Boss, you sure?" A woman asked.

"He's right. If this was an ambush, we wouldn't be talking." A new voice added.

"They might be getting in position as we speak if we missed their kill-zone." The woman warned.

"That's true. But Prince or not, that's a Noble's accent. Straight from Pendragon too." Grunted the man that appeared to be their commander. "If this is a trap I expect you to kill the fuckers. Hail Britannia."

I could hear the man moving towards me through the grass. When he entered the tree-line I cloaked myself with the Force and changed locations. To my relief I could sense his soldiers were keeping their positions, though I could feel their wariness. They were on edge.

Soon enough I could see the man clearly, despite the darkness. Another score for the Force. He was wearing uniform appropriate for the Jungle, complete with harness with all the toys you might expect a special forces operative to carry on a search and destroy mission and then some.

"No fast moves." I spoke quietly from his left flank. He had been walking toward the tree I used for cover when I started speaking. "Hands up and turn around slowly. Last night I had enough excitement for to secure me a place in Valhalla."

He complied and moved slowly. I could feel him being anxious. He didn't want to get shot. Which was nice. No suicidal heroics if we could avoid it.

Despite all the rumours, there were a lot of sensible people in the Imperial armed forces. It was primary certain Noble idiots who often got in for the glory who gave a bad name to the lot of us. Them, and a few units filled with brainwashed idiots who lapped the propaganda coming out of Pendragon like it was the gods own gospel. Fucking fanatics.

The commando finally turned towards me, obviously trying to appear non-threatening. Considering that he was covered with combat gear, topped off with night vision goggles that gave him a vague insectoid look, it wasn't working particularly good.

I grinned at him.

"I don't look like your typical prince, do I?" I quipped.

The corners of his mouth, which were visible, turned up.

"More like a drunk vagrant. So you are Cornelia's little brother?" The man visibly relaxed after studying my face for a few moments. Thanks to the Force I could feel the tension bleeding away from his body. So they probably weren't ordered to make me vanish. The night might just be looking up.

I cringed. I loved my sister, however being know as her little brother in the army wasn't endearing her to me. It wasn't doing my ego any favours either.

"Yep. However, I hope one day I'm going to be known for my own exploits, thank you very much."

"What about the insurgents we were sent after?"

"Dead. They weren't insurgents."

"Oh?"

"EU Special Forces, two sections of the bastards."

"And you'd have me believe you handled them?" I could feel his disbelief.

"Their camp is that way." I pointed at the lake. "There is a bit of Intel there you might want to grab as well as confirm that they are handled."

"Uh, huh." He glanced at my shoulder. "Do you need medical attention, Your Highness?

"I'll live. Keep that bullshit for when there is someone who cares around."

"He's one of ours. Howard, come here and check him up, our new friend is wounded. The rest of you move in towards the objective." He didn't tell them that the Euros were dead. Smart. For all he knew I was delusional or something. I would be doing the same thing if I was in his shoes.

 **=ABKR=**

 **Part 2: Meeting Big Sister**

 **14 March 2009 A.T. B**

 **Army Base "Lancelot"**

 **Area Six**

It was an interesting journey, reaching this place. First it was a ride on a stealth chopper out of South Africa after the Black Ops unit confirmed that my captors were all dead and looted their camp for useful Intel. The fact that I had managed to deal with that many men, while starting alone and unarmed earned me some measure of respect. When they saw the people I interrogated and the mummy, well, there were some awkward glances sent my way.

I parted with the rescue unit when the bird landed on an Imperial cruiser in the Indian Ocean. My arrival produced a small furrow. No one expected the commandos to bring back an alive prince. It turned out that the official word was that my flight had been lost with all hands. That was curious and something to look at later – figuring out who gave that directive might be a way to finding who exactly sold me out. It took some persuasion, backed up by gentle pushing with the Force to convince everyone that my survival should be kept a secret for a few days.

Next I found myself on board of INS "Pendragon", a Victorious-class super-carrier, which was on her way back to the homeland for refit after extended deployment near the former New Zealand.

There I finally boarded my current ride, after a dinner with the Admiral and his staff. The officers were pleased that they played a small part in the rescue of a royal. Such a thing tended to enhance one's career. Even if said prince's misfortune had been caused by Pendragon's infamous political games.

Needless to say, it was even harder to convince the Admiral and his staff that I should officially remain dead for a bit longer.

That's how I ended up, at the co-pilot seat of a fighter on final approach towards a runaway at the base where Cornelia's army was stationed. I had no illusions that my survival could be kept a secret for long. Anyway, the deception only needed to hold until I got safely to my sister which it thankfully did.

Soon enough the plane landed and I was making my way out. As it turned out, my arrival wasn't as clandestine as I hoped. The living proof was waiting on the runaway standing stiffly next to a Jeep. There was no way I could mistake my sister's Knight of Honour, Guilford. His thin frame was tensed until I jumped out of the cockpit without waiting for a ladder to be brought. He examined me for a long moment and his shoulders relaxed. A relieved smile appeared on his face.

"It's good to see you are still in one piece, Your Highness." He shook himself and gave me a respectful bow, before waving me to get into the Jeep.

"I quite like it that way. How is my sister? I understand that there were some rumours about my demise circulated around the homeland." I asked. The last thing I wanted was to worry my family, but it couldn't be helped. It wasn't like I had any power over the rumour mill back home.

"As you can imagine, she was pissed off. Then heartbroken." Guilford gave me a brief accusing glance before getting himself back under control and sighing. "Cornelia didn't take the news in a good way."

"I certainly can. Any news about mother or Euphemia? When I learned about the Empress and figured out that my unfortunate accident happened about the same time..." I trailed off.

Guilford wasn't an idiot. He was well aware that there was no chance in hell that a bunch of terrorist could have made it to the Aries Villa, killed Marianne and gotten away clean. It was internal job all right.

He frowned. Not a good sign, damn it!

"They are all right." He said after getting behind the wheel. "At least they were the last time we heard of them."

I made my way next to him and closed the door and waited for the other shoe to drop.

"There was an attack on your home but the family wasn't. Apparently Lady Catherine received some kind of a warning from Marianne the day before the attacks so she grabbed Euphemia and left to visit Duke Ashford. The residence was hit minutes after they left."

"Should I assume that someone tried to take out Cornelia too?"

"Not yet. We've been on a wartime alert ever since the attacks, however its been quiet here."

"Whoever is pulling the strings isn't going to overlook my sister. Mother and Cornelia are the most dangerous of us."

"You were softer targets, your highness. Shooting down a private plane without escort and hitting the residence – both are much easier than striking at Cornelia while in here."

"True enough." I conceded. We might have been just targets of opportunity, a way to send a message to everyone who at one time or another supported aunt Mary.

I was going to hunt them all down anyway.

"Oh, congratulations by the way." Guilford inclined his head my way.

"About what?"

"I'm sure that you'll be getting reassigned to this army. If my Princes doesn't strangle you for keeping us thinking you are dead."

"I know she'll be displeased. However, I wanted to be somewhere secure before revealing my survival. Until I saw the bade I was half expecting another assassination attempt." I admitted.

"Healthy paranoia." He nodded in approval.

After a few minutes of silent travel we arrived to a massive building, which contained the command centre, among other facilities. Thanks to Guilford we got through the security checks rather fast ans soon enough I was in front of my sister's office. There were two armed and armoured soldiers at her door. If my guess was right they were there not to deal with some assassin that made it through all the security, but to keep sycophants away from Cornelia – she had been complaining about it in the past. I guess some people just didn't learn.

Point of fact, there was a small queue waiting for an audience with my sister. Only a third of them were military. The rest were nobles, if the way they dressed was anything to go by. The later looked at me with derision once they noted the borrowed uniform that I was wearing. The only notable thing on it was my rank insignia. There were no medals and more importantly not the li Britannia's crest to identify me. I wasn't one of the media darlings either so it was quite possible that most people even nobles who hasn't met me at Pendragon didn't recognize me in these clothes. That was all right – the last thing I needed was dealing with courtiers.

When Guilford led me straight to the door, disregarding the waiting people, it earned both of us a lot of dirty looks. Considering that he was Cornelia's Knight of Honour everyone kept their thoughts to themselves.

When Guilford opened the door I could hear my sister's distinctive angry voice.

"Damn them! Those imbeciles were unable to keep the Empress safe! I'm not leaving my family under their protection! I want my mother and sister on the first available plane, am I clear?!" She paused. "Guilford?" My sister voice sounded wary, vulnerable when she addressed her knight.

"I have someone you would want to meet, Your Highness." He waved me to follow him in.

"Do it!" She growled and I heard her slamming a phone.

I shrugged and made my way in her office, closing the door after me.

When I laid my eyes on Cornelia, my heart skipped a beat. Her hair was wild, there were bags under her eyes as if she hasn't slept in ages. Before I could stop myself, my mouth ran itself.

"'Nelly, you look like shit."

She just stared at me, my words obviously not registering.

"Del?!" She spoke quietly, as if not believing her eyes.

I gave her a cheeky grin. "I'm all right, sis."

Then I was tackled by a purple haired blur. I found myself grappled by Cornelia-constructor, who had me embraced in a tight hug.

"You stupid, stupid boy..." She was muttering in the same tone she used years ago when I almost got my foolish neck broken climbing a damn tree of all things.

"Hey. I'm all right sis." I repeated.

My hands returned her hug and I let myself finally relax. I was safe here or at least as safe I could ever get. I felt Cornelia's shock when she saw me. Then the overwhelming joy she experienced when her mind caught up and she recognized me. I could feel her love.

My sister loved me.

For a moment everything was all right in the world.

 **=ABKR=**

 **Part 3**

 **14 March 2009 A. T. B**

 **Command Centre**

 **Army Base "Lancelot"**

 **Area Six**

"That's an interesting tale, Your Highness."

"Guilford, don't get formal on me. I've got enough of that sh… ahem stuff as it is." I grumbled over my drink and took a sip. The whiskey sent a pleasant burn down my throat. "What did you expect? That I would simply stay put and wait for a rescue that may not be coming? For all I knew they were going to kill me anyway once I served their purposes." I grumbled.

"You know, Guilford is right, brat. How the hell did you manage to take out two sections of special forces?! You told us you were tied up in a Freya damned cage!" My sister exclaimed.

She was getting more and more wound up as she learned the full extent on how I was treated by my captors. If they weren't safely dead, I was half convinced that by now she would be half way to the first transport to South Africa so she could hunt them down herself.

"Excellent training and utter bastard of a gunny as a drill instructor?" I tried, hiding a frown. It appeared that lying to Cornelia was surprisingly difficult. There was a part of me that loathed the very thought and wanted, screamed to tell her the truth. Or at least as much as she would believe.

"Delkatar, Guilford and me would be hard pressed to take out two sections of special forces if we were together. We got the same training you did, we saw to it. It doesn't account for experience and even luck. You should have died out there, Del." Cornelia sighed. "How are you still alive, brother?"

They looked expectantly at me. They were right too. If you got lucky with the right heavy weapons or through an ambush with a lot of explosives – it was certainly possible to took out twelve highly trained killers. None of that was true about my escape. I should have died in Africa. How much did I dare reveal? I knew what Veil would do – lie his ass off and concoct a somewhat plausible fiction.

I didn't want to lie to Cornelia. I wasn't sure if I really could. She along aunt Mary were the two people I've been looking up to. They were my idols and I wanted to be just like them when I grew up.

"Even with proof I'm not sure you'll believe me, Nelly." I reluctantly admitted. "I lived through it and there are moments I find it hard to believe it happened."

"Del, you can talk to me, you know that, right?" Cornelia put down her glass and came around the table to hug me. I relaxed in her arms and sighed.

"Proof first, then my story." I sighed. I raised a hand and called on the Force. Everything on the table levitated a meter above it. "I met... something while in captivity..." I began recounting my story.

 **=ABKR=**

A few hours and two bottles of good whisky later, we were sitting in silence.

"This' insaneee..." Nelly moaned.

"Ughh..." Was my eloquent response.

"Re.. rin… reing… reincantation… impossble..." She grumbled.

Guilford simply blinked owlishly at us, hugged the last bottle, the traitor and nodded off.

"Nel..." I tried to say something but my tongue refused to obey. Daamnit. I haven't plastered myself this much in ages. At least Nelly didn't hate me any-more.

"I wanna powahs too!" She declared drunkenly before passing out.

Kriff it, I was too drunk to deal with this… I thought before being claimed by sweet oblivion.

 **=ABKR=**

Next morning took a lot of coffee to resurrect us. I had to make another demonstration to reassure Nelly and her knight that last night wasn't the product of drunken delusion. I did that by carefully levitating my sister, which got her very much awake and earned me a dirty look from Guilford.

That's how we ended up in Nelly's private rooms with a pot of hot strong coffee and a plate of scones.

"You weren't joking." My sister muttered quietly.

"I wish I was, Nelly. This power, it got me home alive. However, its dangerous. When I used it for the first time I almost lost myself. I've got that man's memories sister. If that happens, the person I am today would be gone and there would be only a power-thirtsty monster left who won't care for anyone."

"I won't allow it, hear me!" Nelly gave me another hug and for a moment I believed it.

"I hope so."

"Can you not use that power?" Guilford asked. "If it is as dangerous as you imply..."

"If I'm in a live or death situation I would use it for certain. Trying not to... that might ensure that I fall and that can't be allowed to happen."

Guilford cursed uncharacteristically.

"What are we going to do?" Cornelia asked.

"What we have to. Mother and Euphie should be arriving today, right?" I intoned and got a scone when my stomach rumbled.

"Yes. Guilford will bring them back."

"I'll do it. Thanks to my abilities I should be able to sense any attack before it happens. It gives us better odds to bring them in safely if something happens." I proposed.

"I won't let you out of my sight ever again!" Nelly declared. She had her resolved face on too.

I should have seen this one coming. Of course my sister would be feeling overprotective after I almost got killed.

"You can't afford to, Nelly. My abilities are too useful to not use. There was enough evidence of something weird going on at the camp where I was held that questions will be asked and sooner or later father will take note."

"Even more reasons to have Guilford sit on you." My sister was undeterred.

"I was thinking about making myself too useful to kill out of hand." I tapped the side of my head. "Decades worth of engineering knowledge far ahead of what could be considered bleeding edge today."

"That settles it, you're not leaving the base any time soon. We can't risk you getting your thick head shot off." Cornelia beamed at me.

I had the nagging feeling I shot myself in the foot with my last two points...

"None of that really matters if our family isn't safe. Mom and Euphie have better chance of getting here intact if I'm part of their security detail. Nelly, I'll break out and go meet them if I had to."

Cornelia growled at me.

"Getting you safely locked in the stockade and throwing away the key gets more and more tempting every time you open your mouth little brother. Just keep digging yourself a deeper hole."

"The stockade won't even slow me down, Nelly."

"That settles it. I'll be the one sitting on you until you find some common sense. I see whatever else you got from that reincarnation business, common sense was in a short supply." Nelly narrowed her eyes at me. She meant it too.

I polished my scone while thinking about what I told my sister. In hindsight that was a very good way to ensure she wouldn't let me get out of eyesight instead of letting me go pick up our family... Gods damn it!

Let's try again with a bit more finesse...

"Nelly, think about what I told you about the source of my abilities and what it allows me to do...

 **=ABKR=**

 **Part 4**

 **=ABKR=**

 **15 March 2009 A.T.B.**

" **Conquista" Airport**

 **Buenos Aires**

 **Area Six**

It took hours of badgering until I managed to persuade my sister that it was a good idea to let me come collect mother and Euphie. Half that time I spent demonstrating my abilities and that thanks to Veil's memories I was a bit more useful than the brand new first lieutenant I was.

I spent the rest of the morning familiarizing myself with one of Cornelia's best mechanized platoons – the people who I would be leading to the airport. Ideally there would be no need for this exercise and my family could land in the base. However, there were few issues with that plan – they were on board a commercial jet seeking safety through obscurity. Considering that my plane was shot over Africa, I could see where they were coming from. Still, that wouldn't have prevented them from landing in the base... if it wasn't for the little snag that we didn't know what flight they were on or their exact arrival time. We were out of touch too so I had to get the platoon deployed at the airport before one in the afternoon and wait. My best guess is that someone in Pendragon wanted to make a point to us and decided to do it by risking my family's safety. If I ever got my hands on those bastards...

I chased away the sweet thoughts about revenge – I didn't want to give the Dark Side an easier time. Instead, I went over my current situation in my mind.

It's been three hours since I got officially transferred into Nelly's army. Considering my sister's in particular and our family in general shaky political standing, she had to burn a lot of capital to ensure the transfer came through without a snag. Technically she couldn't give me any more authority than my rank required, nor could she promote me before I earned it. That was expected. What wasn't was the fact that after our little heart to heart this morning, Cornelia was left with the impression that I actually knew what the Hel I was doing. She decided to get back to me by shoving as much work as she could on my shoulders – once the current mission was done I would have my hands full for the foreseeable future. On the bright side, I would have the opportunity to prove myself both to the brass and to the troops in the army, because a lot of them would see me as someone receiving preferential treatment thanks to nepotism.

In the short term our arrangement was going to be a slight on Cornelia's reputation, which meant that I had yet another reason to excel.

In hindsight I should have skimmed over his military exploits while telling her about Veil's memories, because after our family was safely back in the base I was to take charge of the most fucked up platoon under Nelly's command and straighten them up. Preferably in the next two weeks before we started actively dealing with the insurgents in the region… and that was only one of the hats I would be wearing.

By most fucked up, I meant that she was probably getting the worst offenders in her whole command, dumping them in a single unit, before leaving me to deal with that mess. Lucky me.

"Sir, we are in position." A voice over the radio in my helmet brought me back to the present.

"Roger that. All elements sound off."

"Alpha, status green."

"Beta, four by four."

"Gamma, all clear"

"Delta, here. We are in position, setting up." That was the sniper team, who was making a nest on top of the control tower. An additional pair of troopers were attached to them, who were armed with ATs and MANPADs respectively.

"Epsilon, awaiting orders." The sergeant, who was behind me stated.

"Zeta here. Exfil ready." The last section was back with our transports – two armoured Jeeps that resembled Humvees and five APC's parked nearby.

I got one section behind me, with the last two mingling with security in the building behind us, more to keep an eye on the locals than anything else.

It might be an overkill, bringing an over-strength platoon to collect my mother and sister, however this was Britannia. There was no such thing as being too secure or protected. Especially when any attack was likely to be an inside job carried out by our own people, which in turn implied well trained professionals with top notch gear.

The convoy itself was waiting a few hundred meters from my position, ready to swing by and collect us once the VIPs disembarked. After that we would pass by the Airport's exit to collect the rest of the platoon and head home. That at least was the plan. Considering how the damn Airport was built, there was only one reasonable way to get out, which was less than trilling. That's why the plan called for the elements which were to board near the exit to sweep the area before we reached that position. You can't be paranoid enough if people were out to get you.

"LT, we have confirmation. The VIPs bird is on final approach." A Corporal from Delta, announced. She did as instructed and had liaised with the fella in charge in the tower, giving us heads up.

We got that much warning because someone back in Pendragon finally deemed prudent to call the base and inform Cornelia on which flight our family was arriving. I was half tempted to request from Nelly to order the jet land in the base and damn the consequences but thought better of it. The approach for the runaways there was over a quite dense forest which wasn't secure enough. In contrast, most of the way to the commercial airport was actually over a bunch of fields which had a couple of platoons patrolling them right now. Add to that the simple fact that this airport was quite busy and anyone wanting to hit my family's flight might be hard pressed to actually figure out which was their target.

"Epsilon, you checked up that mobile stairwell and the vehicle that will bring it to the plane, right?" I inquired after my gaze swept over the runaway.

"Yes, sir. Unless there are explosives built in the damn thing, it's clear. The sniffers are all green."

"Well done." I said, while chiding myself. I had forgotten to order that thing examined. It was a dumb fucking mistake, highlighting the fact that all the experience and memories that were dumped in my brain weren't assimilated yet. They were more akin a database which brought to the surface things that I consciously thought about, Most of the time. Even in combat, my actions were a far cry from what I remember Veil doing. If he was in charge back in Africa, it was unlikely that he would have gotten shot. There was a small delay when I recalled how to do something new for the first time, one that could be lethal in combat. Even the techniques I've actually used before took more concentration to pull off than they should have...

I rubbed the back of my head, chasing those thoughts away. This wasn't the time for introspection. The plane with the rest of my family could be seen. It was already descending and heading straight at the runaway. From this angle, it looked similar from what little I remember of jet liners from back on Veil's Earth.

I hoped that no matter where he was, he finally found a bit of peace. Despite all he did across the multiverse, he deserved it after all the shit he had to deal with.

"All elements, we are in play. Look alive people!" I ordered moments before the plane touched down and the roar of its engines drowned all other sound.

I could feel adrenaline flooding my body. This was going to go all right. It had to. My little sister wasn't going to be hurt on my watch, no matter what I would have to do!

 **=ABKR=**

 **Part 5**

 **Britannia Air Flight 855**

 **Over Area Six**

Princess-Consort Amelia li Britannia was gently running her fingers through the pink locks of her sleeping daughter. She leaned back into her seat, a frown marring her face. With a single stroke, her family has lost it's position as one of the premier powers in Britannian politics. If it wasn't for the vague warning that she got a few hours before Marianne was murdered, Amelia had no doubt that she and her little girl would have suffered the same fate. Their ancestral seat had been attacked just minutes after the Empress, leaving the residence a mess and the guards that were left behind, dead.

What followed were a few frightful days in which the rest of her security detail had done their best to keep a low profile while she tried to find what the Hel was happening; Amelia almost wished she hadn't. Her family suddenly found itself with precious few allies as almost everyone who had been close to the murdered Empress was either politically or directly assaulted, some both. What Amelia found most chilling was the silence and inaction coming from the Emperor himself. Until it happened, she wouldn't have believed it possible. Yet, it appeared that Charles didn't care. Was it grief or something else? Amelia could have sworn that Marianne was the one of his consorts that Freya cursed man truly loved.

Then another blow came. It was made public that her son's plane had been shot down over Africa, making her worry for him too. At least her eldest child Cornelia should have been safe surrounded by her army in Area Six. However, that was a scant comfort for Amelia and her youngest daughter, who were still in the capital at that time.

They spent most of Marianne assassination's aftermath housed by an old friend of Sergeant Vong, something that probably saved them all. While being hidden in a small house in the suburbs of Pendragon, she watched how Marianne's son made a fool of himself in front of the Court, something that shouldn't have been allowed if the former Empress still had any allies left in there. The purge had obviously been rapid and almost total.

Then came another blow. It was announced that Delkatar had been executed by rebels in the jungles of South Africa. That news almost broke her and it was only for Euphie's sake she kept going. That and the burning desire for vengeance onto those who dared harm her family.

It was last night, when Amelia was made aware that nothing was exactly like it originally appeared. Because of that man – Bismark of all people appeared on the doorstep, requesting a meeting. She and her bodyguards were well aware of his abilities. That even if the Knight of One was alone, they were likely dead if he wanted them that way.

Instead…

"Your Highness..." Bismark had given her a respectful bow once he was invited inside.

"To what do we own this honour?" Amelia had asked in a frosty tone.

"I'm here to arrange your transportation to Area Six and Cornelia."

Only a raised eyebrow had signified Amelia's surprise at that development.

"And you are concerned about the fate of someone fallen from grace, because?"

"There was an interesting development lately." The infuriating man shrugged. "You all have seats on a flight leaving at nine in the morning. It would be for the best if you are on board. I can't guarantee your safety if you remain in Pendragon any longer."

"Can't or won't?"

Bismark's stony expression was the only answer she got.

Considering that they didn't really had an acceptable alternative, the li Britannia's and their remaining bodyguards were on the plane when it took off. To Amelia's surprise, getting on it posed no trouble at all. The damn thing was still flying which was always good. She wouldn't have put it past Charles, if he really was a part of the purge, to have them killed as an accident.

Nevertheless, they were still alive and the plane was on its final approach to Buenos Aires. Now, they only had to land safely and reach Cornelia in one piece.

 **=ABKR=**

 **15 March 2009 A. T. B**

" **Conquista" Airport**

 **Buenos Aires**

 **Area Six**

The plane landed without accident and manoeuvred up to our position, before the mobile stairwell was driven up to it. I nodded absent-mindedly after receiving another all clear from my men and a confirmation that Zeta was coming with the convoy.

"This is Green Actual, landing is secure. You can proceed." I switched to the comm frequency used by my family's bodyguards. If they were on board they should answer.

"Aegis One copy. Ident. Over." A familiar voice answered, sounding surprised that he heard me. I guess they still thought me dead.

"Gamma-Three-Sigma-Four-Nine-Theta. Codeword of the day is Red. Green Actual over."

"Roger. Ident confirmed. It's good to hear from you Green Actual. We are disembarking, over."

A stewardess opened the plane's door and a suited bodyguard stepped on the stairwell. He looked around, studying us for a moment, before saying something. He wasn't one of my family's guards that I recognized. Probably a relatively new one, which meant that he must be watched for the foreseeable future.

Then another suited man appeared. Fortunately this one I knew. He was Stephen Vong, a retired first sergeant, who had been a part of our security details for more than a decade. He looked around until his eyes stopped on me. He stared for a moment, before smiling and giving me a sharp nod. The sergeant said something that was carried away by the wind and started descending the ladder. A moment later a pink haired girl appeared, held tightly from behind.

I smiled. Euphie was looking around with wide eyed innocence. Mum on the other hand was a mess. Her face was pale and gaunt, and her eyes were darting this way, and that, looking for danger. Seeing her like that killed all the joy I felt.

Finally, my mother saw me. She froze mid-step, halfway down the stairs and just stared in disbelief. Meanwhile, Euphie looked around in confusion, before she laid eyes on me. She frowned cutely while examining me. Then her face was split by a blinding smile. Euphie squealed and dashed forward, deftly evading Stephen's attempt to grab her as she flew by him.

I smiled, moved forward and caught Euphie just as she threw herself at me like a tiny, pink missile.

"Hey there, munchkin. Miss me?" I grinned.

 **=ABKR=**

 **Part 6**

 **15 March 2009 A. T. B**

" **Conquista" Airport**

 **Buenos Aires**

 **Area Six**

"Mother. It's been some time." I spoke when my mom descended the stairway after gentle prompting from Stephen.

"You're alive." She smiled and gave me a fierce hug, throwing away the decorum expected from an Emperor's Consort. "Don't do this to us again. Please." Mom whispered quietly.

"It wasn't my idea, you know." I spoke back while hugging them both. "We should go. It's not particularly safe here." I couldn't properly describe the relief at holding my family. Finally, I knew for sure they were all right and safe.

Mother stiffened and all trace of emotion bled out from her form. Just like that she had transformed back into the proper Britannian Noblewoman. She gave me a curt nod.

"Then lead the way, Lieutenant." Mother declared imperiously, acting again as the stuck up Noble she often pretended to be.

"That's the plan." I frowned and looked at my legs, which were still hugged by Euphie, who was making a rather plausible rendition of a limpet mine.

"She's your sister. You can deal with her." Mother decided not to be particularly helpful in this situation. She was enjoying the show too, if the amusement in her haunted eyes was anything to go by.

"Euphie, let go." I implored.

My little sister looked up and refuted my request with flawless logic.

"I don't wanna!"

"Really?" I shrugged and leaned over her. A moment later, Euphie was squealing, as I began tickling her. Once she released my legs I picked her up and headed for the waiting APC. "All units, we're moving out in one. Ready to pull back to exfil points." I spoke quietly in the comm unit. "If you care to join us, Mother?"

"I'll be delighted." Mom deadpanned and followed us, surrounded by her security detail.

We boarded the APCs without any accidents or additional temper tantrums from Euphie and headed for the exit. Along the way we started picking up fire-teams from my current command as they were puling back from their overwatch positions.

"You have a lot to explain, Delkatar." Mother muttered quietly after looking around the spartan troop compartment of our ride. "When we're somewhere where we could talk privately." She added.

"Concerned about the APC being bugged?"

"It won't surprise me." Stephen shrugged. "I've seen it done."

Well, fuck.

"BUGS?! WHERE?" Euphie squealed and tried to crawl into Mum's lap despite the safety harness keeping her securely in her seat.

"I won't let a single crawling horror get you, sweetie. Calm down." I chuckled at my sisters antics. "Anything else I should be concerned about, sergeant?" I turned my attention to Vong.

"Well, you made it to a First LT, so there's still a bit of hope for you yet, your highness." Stephen smirked. "What has Cornelia prepared for you?"

"She plans to dump all her problem children in my lap." I sighed in mock horror.

The former NCO whistled. "You either impressed or pissed her off."

Uh. "Try both."

"Somehow, I'm not surprised. Sucks to be you, your Highness."

"Yeah. It's been an _interesting_ week." I grumbled. Such a charming understatement...

"It's not everyday even a Prince comes back from the dead." The man who was more of a father to me than Charles ever was chuckled.

"Then it's good that I skipped the dying part. I owe you one by the way. It was your dastardly training regime combined with what the sadists at the academy put me through that allowed me to get back more or less intact." Though the Force and the skills I remembered from my previous lives were rather more vital all things considered.

Stephen gave me a satisfied nod.

For a moment I allowed myself to think that it all might turn all right in the end… I should have known better.

 **=ABKR=**

At a first glance, he was just another local who was sipping at a cup of coffee on his balcony. Nothing anyone would look twice at, just as planned, even if Pierro was something much different. While he appeared to be rather bored, he was in fact carefully scanning everything he could see from his perch, looking for the tiniest sight of trouble.

On this day, he was devotedly praying that nothing unexpected would happen. Too much was hanging in the balance for even the smallest surprise to be welcome. He shouldn't have been expecting anything else really. Unpleasant surprise was virtually guaranteed on this day, after all nothing ever went according to plan.

"What the hell?!" Pierro grunted after checking again just to make sure that his eyes weren't lying to him. "Shit, shit, shit! Britannians incoming! Get your asses in gear!"

"Fuck it! We're almost ready! How the hell did they found out?!"

"Silence! How many?"

"At least a platoon. I'm seeing three APCs coming around the corner down street with more behind them."

"Grab the RPGs and show them how much we appreciate their visit. Call the other cells. We are kicking it three hours early. Move it, people! Lora, coordinate with the cells in the nearby blocks. We'll strike as one."

The group of resistance fighters left whatever they were doing and headed for the ammo caches strewn through the otherwise mostly empty flat.

The leader of this cell went to the encrypted satellite phone which each group of Liberte had courtesy of their European benefactors and started dialing pre-programmed numbers.

"Diaz, its me. We have Brits incoming. We're about to kick it up early. Start the ball rolling."

"Understood Nate. It's time to take back our freedom."

Meanwhile, Lora, a tiny brunette who looked like she should be in high school was on a walkies-talkie coordinating with their nearby friends.

Nate nodded with satisfaction. He had four other cells spread in apartments in the same large complex overlooking the avenue below. If the oppressors had sent only a single platoon, the imperialists bastards would be for a rude surprise. A rain of RPGs three LMG, some grenades thrown from above and his men and women would be able to slaughter the survivors before proceeding to their objective.

Finally, the revolution was at hand!

 **=ABKR=**

 **Part 7**

 **15 March 2009 A.T.B.**

 **New Birmingham Complex**

 **Buenos Aires**

 **Area Six**

Once he had done with sending up warnings, Nate went to the balcony and glanced down. The Britannian convoy had already turned the corner and was crawling up the avenue below. Just a few minutes and they would enter a kill zone between the locations of the nearby cells under his command. As things stood, the oppressor's force was in the effective range of only one group, and were almost on the edge of another. The afternoon traffic was murder slowing them down to a crawl. That would give time for all his fighters to arm and position themselves. For a moment Nate wondered about their slow approach. Perhaps they weren't here for him or didn't want to raise an alarm by acting before being closer. For all he knew they weren't aware exactly how many cells were waiting for them...

Nate looked back into the flat and smiled. Pierro and Marriah were already armed with RPGs and carried additional rounds, while Fernando was checking an already loaded LMG.

"Lora, coordinate with our friends. I want to hit those bastards fast and hard."

"On it, boss."

"Pierro, Marriah, when I give the word, you two go out, and blow up the leading APC. Himenez's people will take care out the last one. If we're lucky we'll gut the bastards before they could dismount and the heavy gunners will deal with the rest."

"Nate! They stopped just below us!" Jimenez's radio operator shouted from Lora's walkie-talkie.

"They know about his cell. Fernando, set up, you'll suppress them. The rest are one me. We're getting closer. Tell Jimenez to hit them while they dismount. We're moving to engage them!" Nate headed for the door after grabbing his assault riffle. "Lora, tell the rest of the Cells to move in and attack! Move it people!"

 **=ABKR=**

We were halfway through the city, occupying ourselves with harmless small talk, when the back of my neck started prickling. At the same time I got the feeling of immediate danger from the Force.

So much for getting back without accident.

For a split second I considered ordering a gun and run charge through the city, but quickly discarded that idea. I had only a handful of APCs at my disposal. A single lucky RPG, roadside bomb or suicide bomber and it would be game over for my family.

"Halt the convoy and dismount. I smell ambush. Watch the upper floors!" I ordered in my comm unit in a voice brooking no argument.

Vong gave me a questioning look, while Mother stiffened at the tone of voice I used just as the APC abruptly stopped.

"Keep them safe old friend." I ordered and got out of the vehicle without saying anything further. I couldn't let Mom and Euphie distract me.

The sense of danger was getting more and more oppressive. Joy.

At least the platoon I was temporarily commanded was made of good soldiers. Even if they wondered what the new LT was thinking they didn't let it compromise their professionalism. The fire teams made textbook deployment, covering all sides. The unmanned HMG and Automatic grenade launcher on top of the APC's were turning this way and that, the gunners scanning for targets too.

Meanwhile, I was scanning the surrounding buildings. Any attacker worth their salt would have taken the higher ground though there probably were units on street level to cut us off too if this was a planned ambush… Which was unlikely. I chose the road back randomly and it wasn't the most direct way to the base.

There were a lot of bystanders and people on many balconies who were looking at us with interest, other with fear. At least a few had cameras pointed our way.

Still, there was no sight of the danger that I was feeling, which was anything but reassuring…

"Sir, what's the issue?" Sergeant Johnson McGraaf, the senior NCO of the platoon approached me. He was a bald black man, who had an uncanny resemblance with a Samuel L. Jackson, who was somehow a rather famous Britannian actor in this world even if the timeline shouldn't be working like that.

"Have you felt that unsettling sensation that makes you on edge just before you stumble into a well done enemy ambush?" I asked him quietly.

The sergeant glanced my way before he continued scanning the surrounding building.

"A few times." He muttered.

I released the safety of my weapon. "Right now it's practically screaming at the back of my mind." I whispered. I closed my eyes and concentrated, letting the emphatic sense that came with the Force run free.

For a few seconds I was nearly overwhelming by experiencing what the bystanders around us felt.

 _Curiosity. Pride. Resentment. Worry. Fear. Hate. Murderous glee…_

My eyes snapped open and my arms were already moving. "AMBUSH!" I shouted, while shouldering my gun and taking aim, all the while I was using the Force to augment my reaction times and give myself more time to react. Just in case I brought an invisible shield of energy around me, which would make any impacts I might take a lot less dangerous and that strained my concentration to its limit.

McGraaf wasted not time in questioning me and instead pointed his weapon up, seeking targets. "Beta, Gamma, right flank! All other units watch your zones!" The senior NCO ordered.

I saw my target and pressed the trigger, sending a three round burst at him. It was just in time too, because he was already taking aim with a fucking RPG. The bullets shredded his chest, but that didn't stop the attacker from convulsively pressing the trigger. Fortunately the RPG round went wide to slam harmlessly in the avenue far away from my people. It was pure luck it didn't blow up one of the cars passing by.

"Seventh floor! The balcony I'm shooting at!" I snapped. Moments later the place was shredded by automatic fire.

Another RPG round streaked our way. Thanks to the increased reaction times granted me by the Force, I was able to watch as the rocket rather slowly made its way towards the APC to my right. While that wasn't the vehicle containing my family, I wasn't going to let it get trashed if I had anything to say about it. Not to mention that it had a pair of soldier who would be close enough to the impact point to be killed.

I moved in a blur and opened fire on the incoming RPG. While it would have been much easier to simply push it away with the Force, I wasn't going to be advertising my powers for everyone to see if I could help it.

My first burst missed, the second clipped the round and only the third had an impact, detonating it halfway to its target. Still, it was close enough for the blast wave to throw me off my feet.

Hut. It was a HE round instead of the AP warhead I was expecting.

In hindsight it was a good thing I was using the Force to shield myself. That close call might have given me concussion otherwise.

The two troopers who were next to the targeted APC weren't so lucky. Both of them were on the ground, though I think they did survive more or less intact.

Anyway, I didn't have time to check on them. Without getting up, I rolled and aimed at the origin of the latest attack, before cutting lose until my magazine was empty.

"If you haven't yet, call the base to send us some backup!" I growled in my comm units after using my mind to switch to the platoon's general frequency in which the vehicle crews were patched in by default.

"Already did that, LT." A grave voice I didn't recognize sounded in my ears.

"Good. ETA?"

"The QRF force is rolling out as we speak. We'll have gunships in five and ground support in thirty."

"Tell them to watch for MANPADs. I have a bad feeling about this mess." I grunted and stood up while my eyes dashed in all directions.

Most of the bystanders were running for dear life, while those between us and the building were doing the smart thing and hugging the ground with their hands covering their heads.

At a first glance it appeared that we had things well at hand. Considering that the sense of danger hadn't gone down at all, not to mention my luck lately, that was deceiving impression.

As if to make my point, a machine gun opened up from somewhere down street, making the soldiers at the front of the convoy hit the deck.

"Rover one, suppress that machine-gun!" I ordered the leading APC, which was equipped with HMG that roared to life a few seconds later.

"Orders, sir?" Johnson shouted over the cacophony of the fire-fight.

"We need to break up this ambush. While I would love to get out of here, this avenue is open, no way for the bastards to easily box us in. If I remember the map well, we'll be stuck into a lot of narrow streets after leaving it, which is less than optimal." I grumbled. "We deal with the immediate threat, bunker down and wait for reinforcements."

If my family wasn't stuck with us I would have gleefully went on the offensive, but with mom and Euphie here, not to mention the need to keep my new tricks as low profile as possible, playing it safe it was.


	2. Chapter 2 V2

**Disclaimer: I don't own either of the Code Geass, Gundam Seed or Star wars franchises. This story is not written with commercial purpose in mind. I make no money from it. It is not for sale or rent.**

 **A Black Knight Rising**

 **Chapter 2: Uprising**

 **=ABKR=**

 **Part 1**

 **15 March 2009 A.T.B.  
New Birmingham Complex  
Buenos Aires  
Area Six **

It was a nasty little ambush, I'll give that much to the bastards. It was good that we didn't properly enter the kill zone or we would have been in a heap of trouble.

That by no means meant that we were in a good position. There were at least four or five more enemy squads spread around the buildings surrounding our position and they were reasonably well armed. A lot of RPGs, LMGs and assault rifles for everyone and their little brother.

Even better for the bastards, unless we wanted to get killed, we had to liberally shoot up one of our own residential districts. It was a good thing that the Britannian government and father didn't give a fuck for such things. Usually.

The possible PR disaster, while something I did consider for a few seconds, wasn't particularly high on my list of priorities.

"Alpha move into this building," I pointed at the block behind me. "Escort Delta in. Delta set up overwatch. Prioritize RPGs and LMGs. Beta and Gamma, cover the ground access points. All remaining elements, watch the higher floors. Collateral isn't an issue people. You can cut lose." I snapped off a string of orders.

The only silver lining of the situation was that the civies finally got the note and made themselves scarce, but not before at least a dozen or so were cut down in the crossfire. The medics were tending to them, once they were free from patching up any soldier who got unlucky.

The automatic grenade launcher mounted on the rearmost APC opened up, shredding the façade of the building across the boulevard. An RPG round flew from the suppressed area, slamming in a terrace high above us. The explosion shook me and rained pieces of concrete and shattered glass all over us. Meanwhile, a few additional grenades silenced that enemy position forever.

A few seconds later, anyone who had been engaging us so far was either dead or decided to wise up and switch positions, giving us a moment of respite. That gave me enough time to retrieve the map I was carrying and consider the alternative ways of getting out of here. The reason I had chosen the current path to the base was simple, it didn't force us to cross multiple bridges and avoided all together the Lujan river. We would have swung through the suburbs and once out of the city proper I would have chosen where to cross the Parana river before heading to the base which was a short way beyond it.

That plan had the benefit of avoiding most of the dense construction in this part of the city and we wouldn't have risked being caught on a bridge before we were near our destination. Besides, all places where you could cross Parana near the base were under military control so once we reached that area we should have been safe.

That still left the little issue of actually reaching friendly territory.

I glanced at the APC carrying my family. Getting them out was the only priority at the moment. The air support should be here in just a few minutes and that would give us some more breathing room…

"Kowalski, what's the composition of the QRF?" I asked into my comm. I knew that there were at least a pair of gunships and heavy armed scouts in play. If any of them had the carry capacity to get mother and Euphie to safety, that would untie my hands.

Then again, that wasn't the safest course of action either. A MANPAD or two could turn such extraction into a disaster, unless I was in the bird too and used the Force to deal with any missile coming our way.

"Two gunships and three scouts carrying a fire-team each." The gunner slash radio man of the APC carrying my family answered after checking up with the base. "They are three mikes out."

"When they arrive I want to know if they can land a scout on one of the roofs." I told Kowalski. I wasn't going to risk one of the birds coming down to street level. That simply begged for an RPG or machine gun to ruin its day.

I made my mind about the viable exifil routes and packed up the map, then concentrated on the Force. My awareness expanded, engulfing the residential complex around us.

For a few moments I was nearly overwhelmed by the sheer number of people I could feel and had to fight to keep my focus under the constant downpour of information bombarding my mind. Yeah, remembering how something concerning the Force works apparently wasn't the same as having a first hand experience with it, even if the direct combat use came to me like a second nature when I needed them.

I had to sit down and experiment with my powers once I had the free time and a place where I would be undisturbed.

I forced my mind to concentrate on the task at hand.

 _Fear. Confusion. Pain. Terror. Hate. Anger. Sorrow. Determination._

The combined emotions of the civies around us and those of my soldiers washed over me. It took me some time to stop noticing my men and concentrate my attention on the upper floors of the surrounding buildings. A lot of scared and wounded people there too. Angry, furious even.

Where were the kriffing terrorists attacking us?!

I forced my mind to continue searching.

 **=ABKR=**

"Boss, everyone still alive is in position!" Lora reported.

Nate grunted in approval and carefully glanced over the balcony of the flat they had barged in. Luckily the place was empty, sparing him any further complications.

The imperials were deployed defensively on the street, with groups of their soldiers scanning the surrounding buildings. In theory that should at least made their vehicles easier to hit, though as the short fire-fight had proved, it was rather hard to aim an RPG while under fire.

Especially when the damn oppressors didn't give a damn for the collateral damage and cheerfully shredded the façades of the buildings where the freedom fighters took cover, killing and wounding dozens of people in the process. Nate knew that this was a coup for his side, a proof of the enemy's barbarity that no one could refute, no matter the actual outcome of the fight.

It was too bad that he and his people had to pay the price for that success, along with a lot of civilians, though he believed it would be worth it in the end.

Or so Nate kept saying to himself.

"Good. Tell them to target the vehicles in both ends of the convoy. Riflemen and machine gunners will provide suppressive fire and distraction while the rest will hit them with RPGs. All ready. We strike in twenty seconds."

Lora didn't bother acknowledging the order and started relaying his instructions.

Meanwhile, Nate sent a prayer, while counting down. He needed the other cells to start raising hell before enemy reinforcements arrived here in force. That would divert the imperials, who wouldn't care about the fate of a single platoon when the whole city was on fire.

"Time's up." He muttered and leaned out of his cover, lining up a shot at one of the murderous bastards on the street and gently squeezed the trigger.

At the same time a score of rifles and LMGs opened up, restarting the fight.

 **=ABKR=**

 **Part 2**

 **15 March 2009 A.T.B.  
New Birmingham Complex  
Buenos Aires  
Area Six **

Once I had the approximate locations of the enemies in the vicinity it was time to act. I concentrated, forcing my perception to shift so it would encompass the soldiers under my command. My mind touched theirs and with a supreme act of will I temporarily connected us all.

The Force poured through me like a tidal wave borne by shattered damn. I had to fight in order to keep the connection open and poured as much energy as I dared into it. My head started pounding almost immediately. It was going to get worse with each passing moment, yet it was working. The platoon was ready to act as a single organism guided by my will. The reaction times, perception and courage of my troops sky-rocketed while all enemies around us started losing their nerve.

However, it wasn't fast enough. The insurgents chose the same moment to renew their attack. At least a score of small arms opened up, trying to pin us down. My soldiers reacted with uncanny speed, as if they were anticipating the precise moment of the coming attack as well as the enemy's location.

The Britannian troopers around me shifted their positions in a smooth, calm manner, either taking better cover or to make aiming easier, before they returned deadly accurate fire.

" _Beta nine o'clock, seventh floor. Epsilon up and right. Delta, across the street, two floors down from your position. Gamma six o'clock upper floors."_ I snapped instruction at the speed of thought, knowing that my men would think that they'd heard them through their comms.

What should have been a coordinated attack on our position fell apart as fast as it began. Only the initial bursts from the terrorists had something resembling accuracy, cutting down three of my men. Everything shot at us after that opening salvo went wide as the enemy were either promptly shot up or suddenly lost their nerve under a wave of hopelessness and despair.

The second wave of the attack, consisting of six RPG gunners went downhill fast as only two of the insurgents were courageous enough to take aim before firing. While they were blown to bits almost immediately after showing themselves, they managed to actually fire before going down.

An RPG round blew a crater in the street next to the rearguard APC. The second rocket found its mark and detonated on top of the driver's compartment, turning two good men into so much offal. The remaining missiles detonated harmlessly, blowing up smoking holes in the middle of the boulevard. The last one shattered another part of the façade on our right, showering us with debris.

Then it was over. Whoever among the enemy was still alive, decided that discretion was the better part of valour and made themselves scarce.

I was going to have none of that and started issuing orders, sending fire-teams to clear up the origins of the latest attacks, leaving only two squads and the snipers on overwatch to cover the convoy. I was reasonably confident that by keeping up the Battle Meditation until the air support arrived, I could insure our safety even if it was going to be exhausting.

Meanwhile, my men were going to try get me a prisoner.

It was a good time that the backup should be arriving any moment now, because using Battle Meditation even on this small scale was taking its toll upon both my body and mind. It made me furious too, because it was in your face example of how much weaker in the Force I was right now than the Sith Lord whose memories I got.

You see, using this technique on small scale was rather common to both the Jedi and Sith. However, what most people could do with it was to enhance a fire-team or two. A typical Jedi Knight or comparable Sith, could influence a platoon for a few hours if they were particularly strong in the force. Someone really powerful and skilled, who didn't have a talent for this technique could lead a battalion, perhaps a regiment for a few hours.

There were just a handful of people on each side who could influence both sides on a whole front or anything but a squadron of ships in close proximity. My… predecessor used to be in the latter category, though doing so would have knocked him out of commission for at least a few days and kept him from utilizing the Force properly for a few weeks afterwards. On multiple occasions Veil used Battle Meditation on whole fleets or armies. I reluctantly admitted to myself I wasn't up to that task. Might never be up to it.

In comparison, enhancing a platoon for a few minutes made me feel like dying. My head pounded as if more than a few armoured brigades were carrying live fire exercises in my skull and my body burned with the amount of Force energy I was busy channelling in order to keep the technique running.

Hearing the approaching choppers was the best thing I've felt almost as good as holding my family again.

I grit my teeth and slowly released the Battle Meditation, because terminating the technique in any other way would have given my men a nasty mental backslash, one that was likely to incapacitate a lot of them. The Force drained out of me, scalding my nerves. I had to grit my teeth to keep from screaming in pain.

 **=ABKR=**

A shell-shocked Nate stumbled back into the flat. He slumped against the nearest wall, while clutching his bleeding left shoulder. One moment everything was going according to plan. He had lined up the shot and squeezed the trigger. A three round burst struck the head of the Britannian he was aiming at, and the freedom fighter had grinned when he saw a red puff replacing the man's face.

Then everything went to hell. Something hot slammed into his shoulder, spinning him back and incidentally saving his life, because the place where he was just a moment ago had been shredded by HMG fire.

That wasn't the first time when Nate had been into a fire-fight. Nor the first time he was shot. Yet, this time it was quite different. No matter what the revolutionaries did, the enemy stood tall, fighting like demons! For every single oppressor who was felled, at least three good men were murdered.

Nate simply couldn't see the point of continuing fighting. It was pointless, it would be a senseless way to die. The enemy was simply too good, too well coordinated to overcome.

And just like that, the fight had gone from the cell leader. He stumbled back to his feet and made his way out. He had to get away. He wasn't dying here for no reason!

At the door, Nate nearly ran over Lora, who had her back pressed to the wall and shacking uncontrollably. The sight of his friend shook him out of his daze, making him think a bit clearly. Nate shuddered as sheer terror clawed at the back of his mind.

"LORA!" He shouted at the dazzled woman. "We need to go, now!" Nate shook her with his hale arm, leaving bloody hand-prints on her blouse.

"Whuh?" She stared at him with unseeing eyes.

Nate slapped her, hard. That at last got Lora out of her funk. She shook her head in confusion, just now seeing him.

"Nate? What happened? You're bleeding!" She exclaimed.

"No time! We need to go!" He pushed her in front of him, before applying pressure on his bleeding shoulder.

They were already running down the hall, when Nate had the presence of mind to understand that the shooting had stopped. He simply knew that the freedom fighters had lost and time was running out. That spurred the pair to sprint faster.

 **=ABKR=**

 **Part 3**

 **15 March 2009 A. T. B  
New Birmingham Complex  
Buenos Aires  
Area Six **

After my stunt with the battle meditation, everything was quiet, bar the screams of the wounded. While I still could feel the foreboding sense of danger, it wasn't as immediate as before, letting me relax for a bit… and that was something that I sorely needed at the moment.

While my actions helped break the ambush, it left me physically and mentally exhausted.

I needed a bit of time to catch my breath and it would help me if I could get my family away from this madness. While my fear for their well being helped fuel my powers, it was also distracting.

I took a deep breath. The smell of cordite, blood, fire and dust was overwhelming everything else.

Kriff this. I wasn't risking mom and Euphie through urban fighting and given what I was still sensing, that was likely to be the norm for some time.

A call later, I had redirected a couple of choppers to come over the roof of the nearest apartment building. I was getting my family out of here and would be coming back to ensure the extraction of my platoon later.

"Beta, form on me. We're escorting the VIPs to the rooftops and shipping them out on the QRF birds. The rest of you – tend to the wounded down here and keep the area secure. ROEs are nominal. Shoot first and ask questions later."

My men gave me an affirmative response.

Once Beta was in defensive positions around my family's APC, I called the security detail.

"Aegis, Green Actual, get out here. We're going for aerial extraction."

Moments later, the rear door opened and the retired sergeant glanced around. He had a SMG in his hands and was ready to shoot at any perceived threat. Vong gave me a curt nod and got out, followed by the rest of the detail and my family.

"I'm on point. Bravo with me. Vong, keep the rear." I ordered my best command voice. Then I gave a reassuring smile to mother, who looked less than pleased at the situation, but kept silent and held Euphie close to her. My sister on the other hand… I could acutely feel her terror, which made me furious. I was going to find and kill every one of the sorry bastards who had a hand in this whole fiasco.

"Johnson – you're in charge down here until I'm back or you get new orders from command." I snapped a final order, shouldered my rifle and headed to the nearest entrance. I had to keep my head reasonable clear. Letting my fury rule me right now wasn't going to end well.

The few scared people we encountered on our way up scurried out of our way when they saw us. I didn't feel anything but fear and the occasional relief when they recognized our uniforms. Nothing to suggest that we ran in one of the terrorists who attacked us.

On the other hand we passed a few areas littered with debris after doors were blown off their hinges as grenades ripped nearby apartments apart. There were wounded people throughout the building and holes from high calibre bullets.

The bastards who planned this ambush could easily spin this in the press or at least the rumour mills in their favour – something that might be a problem in the long term. However, I didn't particularly care. My mother and sister were alive and unscratched. That was all that mattered. Besides, it wasn't like either Cornelia or myself had the authority and political power to resolve whatever issues the terrorists had with Britannia. We were here to kill them all and act as a band aid for the problems of the locals.

From what my memories told me, that wasn't particularly good way to keep a population in check in the long term. However, in my current position, that wasn't something I could change. So I had to help kill as many of the trouble makers and the people supporting them as necessary to clean up this mess. Temporarily.

Ah, the joys of being part of father's vision for Britannia.

At least we reached the rooftop without accident. Once there, we got engaged removing the forest of antennas, which were going to make boarding a chopper hard.

Just in time too, because I could hear the birds approaching.

"This is Horned One, Green Actual. Confirm location. " An unfamiliar voice sounded over my comm.

"Green Actual, Hornet One. Popping smoke. We're on a roof, west side of the boulevard. You can't miss us." I spoke and lit up a signal flare, that was a standard part of everyone's kit.

"Roger that, Green Actual. We can see you. Confirm red smoke. Requesting sit rep."

"Hornet One, that's affirmative on red smoke. LZ appears to be secure for the moment. Light casualties, moderate civilian loses. Requesting pick up for VIPs and deployment of reinforcements. We'll need a lot of medics down here."

"Roger that, Green Actual. We're on final approach. Relaying sit rep to Overlord."

If I was to guess, big sis was going to be as pissed about this mess as I was. Perhaps more – after all, as the ranking Imperial officer in the Area, she was ultimately responsible for this whole clusterfuck.

I shook my head and looked around, searching for the birds. I noticed them a few moments later – they were flying low, using high buildings for cover and making it less likely to be picked by MANPADS from long range, even if that made them more vulnerable to RPG and HMG fire.

The leading helicopter I could see was a dedicated gunship – an insectoid looking flying tank armed with a chain gun, rocket pods and AT missiles. There were scout choppers loaded with troops flying in a lose line behind it. Another gunship finished the small procession.

The flying tanks flew above us, undoubtedly scanning for trouble. The leading chalk came over after we confirmed it was reasonable secure and the fie-team it carried jumped out before it could touch down. I waved mother and Euphie to follow.

"Vong, with us. The rest of the detail takes the next bird.

A few moments later, my family was strapped in and I sat next to them.

"Beta, don't get killed, that's an order. I'll be back with reinforcements once the VIPs are secured."

"That's an order we'll be glad to follow up, your highness!" The corporal in charge of the fire team saluted and waved his boys and girls back into the building a moment before we lifted up.

"You two okay?" I asked mother, while giving her an once over. While I could feel that she was unharmed, I simply needed to make sure.

"Yes." She spoke frosty and glared at me. "You could have got killed!" Mother hissed at me. Just a pointed look and simple sentence made me feel guilty.

"I'm intact! See!" I waved at myself and gave her a reassuring smile.

She didn't buy it and hugged Euphie tighter, while still glaring at me.

"Sorry." I muttered and looked around.

Fuck. There were at least half a dozen columns of black smoke rising from various locations throughout the city.

"Pilot, any idea what the hell is happening down there?" I shouted.

"Sorry, sir. All we know is that's a mess. We got reports of attacks on Knight Police stations and the nearby power station, before we lost contact with most of those locations. There was confirmed jamming at the power plant and the situation at most precincts is unknown."

"So that fucking ambush wasn't just for our benefit." That didn't reassure me in the least. Neither did lessen the anger burning in my heart. It didn't really matter why the bastards endangered my family. They were dead men walking anyway.

"ETA to the base?"

"Just a few minutes, sir."

"Good. Just be ready to go evasive if the bastards decide to bag us."

"I'm always ready, sir."

"Delkatar. Language!" Mother hissed at me and nodded at Euphie, who was looking at me with huge, tear linden eyes.

I sighed at the admonishment and gave my little sister a reassuring smile. At least I hoped it was one.

 **=ABKR=**

 **Part 4**

 **15 March 2009 A. T. B  
Army base "Lancelot"  
Area Six **

"Hell no!" Cornelia snapped at me. "You aren't leaving this base until we've dealt with the insurgents."

Once mother and Euphie were sent to rest into the officer's quarters – under heavy guard of course, my elder sister decided to be quite unreasonable.

"Two points. This isn't the time or place for this conversation." I waved at the command centre around us and all the people who tried very hard to pretend they weren't listening. "Second, since when did I become the reasonable one?" I shook my head. "Cornelia, I can take care of myself. My place is out there with my men." I waved in the general direction of the city.

A pair of purple eyes glared at me. "I thought I lost you once – just a few damn days ago!" Cornelia uncharacteristically cursed again, leaving the manners that mother did her best to instil into us behind. "I'm not letting you go get killed."

"You have no problem sending the rest of the army in." I shot back.

"They aren't my little brother!"

"I grew up, 'Nelly. I gave my word to my men that I will be back with reinforcements. You won't make a liar of me." I stated coldly and stared her back.

Something in my eyes made her flinch back.

"You've really changed, haven't you?" My sister muttered. "Get out and try not to get killed." Cornelia hissed.

I snapped a salute and made my way out. Well, that was a little disaster – we just gave more than enough fuel for the rumour mill and this was likely going to hit the army's morale and confidence sooner than later.

Kriff it, I should have handled it better! Cornelia too for that matter, yet…

Once I was out of the command centre, I leaned on the wall and closed my eyes as unbidden memories rushed into my head. Strictly speaking, Cornelia shouldn't be a general any time soon. She might have decent officer training and bit of experience, yet otherwise her only qualification was her birthright and title.

My sister wasn't ready for such a command – not when family and a situation needing some finesse to handle were concerned. Considering what was happening lately, I couldn't help it but think that this whole mess was a set up.

Then there was me – what I just did was little more than undermining Cornelia's authority in front of her senior officers – kriffing well done damn it. Hel.

I took a deep breath. Hopefully my sister could handle the fallout well enough. Considering our respective stations and ranks, there was no good way to immediately fix my fuck up. What I could do was to make sure my platoon was all right and cement my credentials with the common troops as someone who sees them as valuable – not just cannon fodder or a simple stepping stone.

I straightened up and headed for the airfield.

"Lieutenant." A less than amused voice came from behind.

I turned around and saw my sister's knight hurrying after me. So Cornelia wasn't pissed enough not to care if I got myself killed. That made me feel warm inside.

"Sir Guilford. Babysitting detail?"

The older man glared at me.

"I'm aware I fucked up back there." I shrugged and continued walking towards the waiting choppers.

"Are you really?" The knight snipped back.

"Undermining my sister's authority in front of her officers counts I think."

"Then why did you do it?" Guilford asked.

"Various reasons. Not being accustomed to following orders that weren't really thought through sure did help." I muttered. Well, actually I was accustomed to doing so before receiving the memories of someone who had been at the top of the food chain for a long, long time.

That was getting bloody confusing.

"You left basic and OCS not too long ago." Guilford shot back in disbelief.

"That's not the case as far as my alter ego is concerned." I whispered after making sure that no one was in hearing range. "It makes things difficult."

"Ah. Troublesome." That was the understatement of the century.

"You don't know the half of it." I grumbled.

"Will there be issues?" The knight asked.

"I can't promise anything. Not without spending some quiet time to sort out my head. Unfortunately that might not be an option any time soon." Kriff it, I hated meditation, even if some was warranted in this case.

"Then make the time." Guilford ordered. The "or else" left unsaid.

"It's on my to do list." It just wasn't anywhere near the top.

A few moments later we reached the airfield. Four transport helicopters flanked by a pair of gunships were waiting for us. The transports were loaded with a platoon kitted for urban warfare.

A fully armoured man with lieutenant bars on the shoulders hurried our way when he saw us approach and saluted.

"Sirs! Lieutenant Frank March, awaiting orders."

"At ease. We're to reinforce my platoon at the New Birmingham complex and secure the area. Once we're sure all insurgents are eliminated, we'll be moving at and eliminating various trouble spots around the city until the current unpleasantries are resolved. Try minimizing civilian casualties when practical, but don't place undue risk to yourself or your men."

"Understood, sir."

"Someone find me an up to date map of the city including areas under enemy control or attack." I added.

"I'll see to it."

A moment later I climbed into the nearest chopper with a free seat and strapped myself in. A bit of shuffling ensured and Guilford was seated next to me.

As the helicopter lifted, I couldn't shake the feeling that I was doing something wrong. That I was overlooking something important.

It wouldn't be until some time later that it would dawn on me – I was thinking and reacting like a relatively new lieutenant – failing to see the big picture for the trees and not using my new memories of someone who had been a quite successful general for a long, long time.

In hindsight perhaps there wasn't much I could do at that point. Despite the memories, I was still myself… more or less. I didn't suddenly turn into a tactical or strategic genius who could leverage experience into doing what's best given the information I had at the time.

 **=ABKR=**

 **Part 5**

 **17 March 2009 A. T. B  
Army base "Lancelot"  
Area Six **

I was back into the base two days later, with what was left of my temporarily command.

I knew it intellectually, my new still distant memories told it straight, yet in the end I was surprised how much hel city fighting could be. Actually experiencing two days of city fighting… I shuddered despite the hot shower I was talking.

Proving myself. Not abandoning my platoon to earn myself the respect of the rank and file troopers.

That sounded like great ideas. Probably were in the long term.

Right now, I didn't feel like it. It didn't help that in few engagements, Guilford had to drag me back behind cover, because in the heat of combat I forgot myself as memories of half-forgotten battlefields' galaxy away surfaced. I felt that I could simply disregard a burst or two of small arms fire – let my not-existing shields and armor take the punishment.

Only Cornelia's knight, a bit of Force fuckery and once the armor plate over my chest kept me more or less intact.

After the last incident, Guilford called my elder sister and got us pulled back - officially so the platoon can consolidate and get some rest. Actually it was a good call – we've lost almost half our numbers in dead, wounded or leaving two fire-teams to protect two important locations we secured.

That's how I ended in a room of my own next to Cornelia's suite – taking a shower, while Guilford and Sergeant McGraaf were informing 'Nelly of my exploits. I had the feeling that she wouldn't be too pleased with me, but for the moment I didn't really care.

This was the first time I actually stopped to think since the latest unpleasantries began. Ever since the attack on the convoy, I've been reacting. No real plan, but improvisation drawn upon my training and new memories. I'm pretty sure it worked reasonably well in the beginning – after all Mum and Euphie are safe and sound and that's the most important thing – but afterwards? On the face of it, I did my job – I'm a bloody lieutenant, not an experienced and seasoned officer. Running a platoon and not getting my people needlessly killed was what everyone should be expecting of someone in my position. That much I did. While there were casualties, I don't believe any one of them were wasted because I fucked up.

However, I'm a bloody prince – so the expectations are quite bit higher. Then there're my memories and the Force.

They were the problem – a double edged sword. The one thing I couldn't afford any time soon is to get too obvious with the latter. My control and raw power were far from what I would need to survive and keep my family safe.

Then we're back to my bloody memories. I know I should be glad for the way that woman, or whatever she was, put them in my head. If she did it another way, they sheer amount of information might have either burned out my brain, shattered my mind or potentially worse – replaced my personality with that of a someone who didn't give a fuck for anyone on this world.

What terrified me was what happened during a few of the fire-fights. It was almost surreal. I'm not sure how to put it into words. There were moments where I wasn't exactly myself. It was as if I was merged with and echo of that man – Veil. I was reacting as if I was him facing the insurgents.

I shuddered as a chill ran through by flesh despite the hot water cascading all over me.

I needed to leverage my memories and help Cornelia wrap up this mess ASAP so I could get some time to sort out my head, because I had the nagging suspicion that if I fucked up with my memories and the Force I might be the greater danger to my family.

 **=ABKR=**

Once I was done showering and making myself presentable, with a side of ravaging a MRE, I went to meet Cornelia. She was waiting for me in her office next to the command centre, where Colonel Dalton was coordinating the clean up of Buenos Aires. He had been out on manoeuvres until yesterday and missed a lot of the excitement along with a whole regiment of my sister's army. That probably explained the timing of the attacks at least in part.

I closed the door behind me and stood at attention.

'Nelly let me stew for a few minutes, while she made a show of reading a report. I'm pretty sure she did it to calm herself down before dealing with me – I could feel her delicious fury through the Force, her fear too. The fact that I enjoyed that she experienced those emotions was quite disturbing. Part of me wondered if I needed a shrink, while my memories told me that this was normal for a Sith and I should be able to get accustomed to it.

Or go at least as insane as Bradley, the brand new Knight of Ten.

Considering that he was a bloodthirsty maniac by even Imperial standards, that should tell you something.

"Delkatar." 'Nelly sighed and put the report down. "Are you trying to give me a heart-attack or something?" My sister gave me a tired look.

I don't think 'Nelly has slept since we got drunk the night before mum and Euphie arrived and I came clean with her. I had the Force to rejuvenate myself and cheat as far as endurance go, but Cornelia was just flesh and blood.

"That's the last thing I want, 'sister." I sighed.

"Don't Nelly me! You almost got killed five times!" My sister snapped.

Actually, they were just two times, I think. I had the Force wrapped as a shield around me for the other incidents. At least I was pretty sure that was the case, though I didn't say that aloud.

"Sorry?"

Cornelia glared at me. Her arm moved and a moment later the report was flying at my face. I acted on instinct and snapped up my hand. The Force responded and the paper froze in front of my face.

'Nelly shook her head at the sight and slumped back in her chair.

I cringed and snatched the report from where it was hovering, then I glanced at the windows. Thankfully, they were covered or I would be in much more trouble.

"What am I going to do with you, brother?" 'Nelly sighed.

I could sense her worry and fear of losing me – it was literally leaking from her person. Fuck. Serving under her, until I rose up in rank and didn't have to go gallivanting on the front lines would be hell for both of us. Yet with my abilities, I was too useful in combat to afford not to lead from the front.

In another military, there actually would be regulations against it or at least it would be discouraged. However, this was Britannia – we were all expected to tough it off and deal with it. Besides, in certain circles sending a sibling to die in battle could be considered a feature, not bug in the system – see our extended family for reference. To be fair, there were regulations preventing close relatives serving in the same chain of command – if they were commoners.

"Unless you have a better idea, we'll have to tough it off until I'm able to raise up in the ranks without our enemies accusing us of nepotism." Unfortunately I didn't have a better idea. Not short term one at least.

"That's it?" 'Nelly asked. "Don't you have something more?" She tapped the side of her head.

"Nothing that I would risk for the time being." I explained that my new memories were giving me issues.

"No front-line deployments until your head is straight. That's an order!" Cornelia snapped in her command voice. For a moment there was no sign of my loving sister on her face and I saw the general who earned herself command of her army.

"Yes sir." I snapped at attention at her tone. So my West Point gained reflexes were still well and very much alive.

"That said, do you recall anything useful in such a situation?" 'Nelly asked.

"The uprising?" I asked and my sister nodded. "Secure the area and get prisoners when practical. If any leader types are located, their capture should be a primary objective. We need Intel. From what I saw, there was at least a battalion or so spread through the city. Moving so many people and equipment should have raised many red flags to the Intel types."

"Yes. I've got people looking into it." 'Nelly snarled.

I was pretty pissed off at that too – this whole mess stank of a set up. One that directly threatened my family.

For that people were going to die. _Screaming._

I shook my head at that thought. That was what Veil – the bloody Sith – would do… and I couldn't help but agree.

"You all right, brother?"

"Fine. Just a memory. Once the immediate threat is dealt with, we'll need to address three main issues. First, find and dry up the terrorists sources of finance. Operation of this size isn't cheap. Someone financed it and they need to be dealt with before they can cause any more trouble."

"Follow the money." My sister smiled. "Good start. What else?"

I suddenly felt like a schoolboy during an exam – one I didn't dare fuck up.

"Source of the equipment. It might just be the usual – black arms dealers. Still, there was a lot of hardware and it had to be shipped in the Area, then into the city and distributed without anyone being the wiser. Even if our Intel service is compromised – which is probably a given, what about police, Hel ordinary civilians seeing and reporting something? We both know how much hardware is needed to outfit hundreds of fighters and most of those bastards had much more than a rifle and couple of mags."

"Yes, enemy logistics. Sorting that out will be a mess too after the trashing Buenos Aires got. Still, we need to plug their channels of supply. What else?" 'Nelly's lips twitched in what might have been the beginning of a smile.

I'm pretty sure it was – she practically radiated her approval.

"Call it what you will – propaganda, hearts and minds, whatever. It's about denying enemy additional manpower. Shrinking their recruitment base."

"How would you do that?" My sister asked.

"First, find what the people in the area want. Depending on what it is, either discredit it or provide it to them if practical. Make sure that the terrorists are seen as what they are – murderous criminals instead of freedom fighters or something like that. Keep pointing out and when practical proving that we're the 'good guys' who're here to protect the population. That we aren't the enemy. Etc… At the same time hunt down the actual terrorists, though when practical avoid excessive collateral damage so we don't provide propaganda victory for the enemy."

"Interesting. I prefer more hands on approach – kill the bastards and their supporters. Make an example of them so no one dares to join their cause."

"That works too – if handled properly. Especially against hostile populations. We're in one of the oldest Areas of the Empire and most of those people are supposed to be our own citizens, a heavy handed approach might backfire – especially politically. I won't be surprised if we're being set up for a similar scenario. Even winning while killing too many of our subjects can be used against us."

"You didn't learn that in the academy." 'Nelly pointed out. She should know – my sister graduated with full honours as one of the best brand new officers to walk out of the Point.

"I could remember dealing with insurgencies. It was often… messy." By damned Sith standards. Most of those memories didn't really apply to the situation – quite different circumstances. At least I could use my memories on what not to do in this case.

Though, there might be a few useful memories, even if I got it right, the Sith Empire's Intel service was actually helpful and not the enemy when Veil had to deal with similar shite.

I blinked in confusion. Huh. I could recall that accident quite easy. Those dissidents on Dromund Kaas and that other mess…

"Delkatar! Are you all right?" 'Nelly asked.

I blinked owlishly at her. She had stood up and was giving me a concerned look.

"I'm not sure." I answered honestly. "When I though about dealing with insurgents, dissidents and radicals – there were some memories that came to the surface. At least a few were useful, but I'll need a bit of time to process them. However, all of them actually included helpful and competent Intel apparatus. I can't say the same for ours in the Area."

"You need some rest." 'Nelly walked around her desk and came to place a reassuring hand on my shoulder.

"Sure. I won't say no to some shut-eye. Ah. We should check on whoever survived from the Knight Police. Any investigators who made it might be useful. If we have any in the MP too…"

"First we'll have to finish cleaning up house." Cornelia interrupted me.

"And you're already dealing with it."

"Delegation."

"Combined with competent subordinates, that's probably one of the best things when you're general." I nodded sagely.

"Go sleep." 'Nelly ordered.

 **=ABKR=**

 **Part 6**

 **18 March 2009 A. T. B  
Army base "Lancelot"  
Area Six **

When I awoke, it took me a few moments to remember where the Hel I was. At least the reasonably soft bed below me helped in that regard – it was a far cry from coming up after a short doze off while tied up into a wooden cage in the jungle. I was pretty sure that if not for Veil's memories slowly integrating with mine, I would have been much worse off after my African holiday and the more recent fighting in the city.

That was something to be thankful for at least – instead of a nervous wreck I was simply physically weary after the abuse I heaped upon my body.

On the other hand, I had pretty good idea what kinds of memories would become _mine_ so to speak sooner rather than later and those were some nightmares I simply didn't need. Damn it, I had to find the time to sort up my mind before something went utterly wrong… Well, there was no time like the present, besides I was supposed to be napping still. So I closed my eyes, relaxed and began meditating.

For a short while, I left myself simply feel the Force all around me.

It was soothing. While no one would accuse Earth having its affairs in order or being particularly peaceful or nice place to live if you consider the world as a whole, there were merely five billion or so people on the planet. Even with Britannia's excesses, not to mention the "fun" that was the Chinese federation, the Middle East or large parts of Africa, this planet felt much more calm in the Force than the densely populated worlds that Veil had spent a lot of time on.

When all was said and done, even a war torn Earth with a population of single digit billions would be much more peaceful than a city world like Coruscant with its countless trillions on its best day.

That was an unexpected boon. I wasn't entirely confident I was ready to deal with a more chaotic or Dark Side aligned Force. Most of what I could do was more or less instinctual – I've been using the Force without really thinking about how exactly I did it by subconsciously drawing on Veil's memories.

It even worked rather well, if you discount the few close calls. However, that wasn't something I could continue doing – my luck was going to run off sooner rather than later and I would get myself killed unless I mastered my new abilities as soon as possible.

I concentrated and remembered doing so before – on Korriban and later as a minion of a Sith Lord who sent Veil to hunt Sith Acolytes gone bad. Hopefully, it would take me much less time to… learn? Relearn? Eh, to master the Force again.

Well, I knew how to do it, I just had to make the time. That however required that the current unpleasantries to be resolved and I needed to help Cornelia do by leverageing my gifts. Doing so was going to save some time and prove that I knew what the hell I was doing – something vital for a LT like me.

Damn, so much for meditating – just a few minutes and my mind began drifting. Eh. Veil wasn't very good with meditation either…

Instead of practically wasting any more time, I concentrated on the Force and began rebuilding my mental defences. While I didn't expect to meet another Force Adept who could fuck up with my mind, properly crafting my mental shields had other benefits too – it enhanced my memory and allowed for operation longer periods of time before fatigue started affecting my judgement. Hopefully, that would help with Veil's memories and if I was really lucky it would give me a measure of protection against head screwing geass types.

The latter was a long shot and not something I would be counting on if I had a choice. The former however was vital.

 **=ABKR=**

My meditation session came to an abrupt end couple of hours later when the door to the small bedroom I was resting in was thrown open and a pink missile homed on my location.

"DELKATAR!" Euphie screamed joyfully and sprinted at me.

I was deep enough in my mind that I didn't sense my sister before she was inside and all I could do was brace myself just in time to receive the small bundle of joy when she jumped on my stomach, driving the air out of my lungs.

"Ahh… Euphie! We've talked about this, haven't we?" I grunted and picked up my little sister before she could plant her knees in my gut in her excitement.

Euphie giggled and hugged me, disregarding my scolding. Again.

I sighed and rubbed her hair. My sister wasn't paying any attention and instead, she was trying to hug the life out of me and babbling almost too fast to follow.

"Yes, I'm here and I won't be disappearing again." I promised.

It left unsaid that if it wasn't for the deal I made in Africa I would have died there. From what little Veil knew of this world, Cornelia and Euphie didn't have a full blooded sibling by the time the invasion of Japan happened. The fact that I should have died a week or so ago wasn't something I wanted to dwell upon.

Instead, I chose to focus on the present and the future – and be glad that I had a chance to experience them both.

"You're awake, I see." Mother glided in the room and smiled at us.

"Obviously." I deadpanned, starring at her outfit.

Mom was wearing a royal purple vest and trousers that simply screamed Cornelia. It was a far cry from the ornate gowns and dresses she usually preferred, though in hindsight it was to be expected. We didn't pick up any baggage from the plane and any mother's party had been probably still stuck at the airport and would remain so until the city was secured.

"Don't give me that, young man." Mom frowned.

I gave her my best innocent look, which was promptly ignored. So I tried deflection instead.

"You look just like Cornelia in this." I waved at her outfit. It was the truth too – Mom was a splitting image of what my older sister would look in a decade or two, which was damn beautiful… Even if I would never know how the women in the family got purple or pink hair – naturally at that. I remember grandmother having pink if mostly grey locks just a shade darker than Euphie's.

"When you joined the army I didn't expect you to do your best to try get yourself killed." Mother glared at me, completely ignoring my attempt to keep the conversation light.

"I didn't..." I trailed off when she levelled a look at me that made me feel like a little boy. Damn it, how did Mom do it every time she was peeved with me?

"It wasn't enough that we thought you dead for days and then, just as we saw you were all right, you couldn't wait to go out there!" Mother waved a hand, obviously meaning my escapades in the city.

"As you see I'm all right. Mom, I know what I'm doing!" I exclaimed.

Not really. Not until I would succeed in straightening up my head, but she didn't need to know that…

"Uh-huh. Try again." Mom huffed. She sighed and sat on the bed next to us before drawing us in a hug. "I can't lose you again, Delkatar." Mother whispered.

"If I have a say in it, you won't." That at least was the truth. I would do whatever it took to keep my family safe… and if what little I knew of the future to come, I would have my hands full.

"I'll hold you up to that promise. Now get up and make yourself presentable." Mother released us from her death grip and ordered in a tone brooking no argument. "We'll be having a family breakfast before Cornelia tries to send you in harm's way again."

I wisely declined to correct Mom and point out that heading out after she and Euphie were delivered safe and sound was my own idea. Once she figured it out, I wouldn't be able to hear the end of it. Preferably that wouldn't happen before I would be at least a continent away from Mom, unfortunately I had the sneaking suspicion that 'Nelly would be throwing me to the wolves shortly.

"Yes, sir!" I mock saluted. Then I glanced at Euphie who obviously had no intention of letting me go. "A bit of help here?" I asked Mother.

"You're a trained Britannian officer. You can deal with her." Mom snorted softly.

"Euphie, let go." I sighed.

My little sister shook her head and hugged me more tightly. Mom just watched the show with eyes sparkling in amusement.

 **=ABKR=**

Once shower and clean change of clothes made me look more or less presentable, I went out. One of the guards gave me directions to Cornelia's suite, which was in a nearby building that doubled as a governor's secondary residence and officer's quarters. I probably should have found a room there instead of crashing in one of the small bedrooms packed up in the command centre so whoever was in command could take a wink or two when things got hectic and they had to be near to the base's nerve centre at all times. I had the sneaking suspicion that the beds where Cornelia and her retinue slept would have been more comfortable – a luxury I've almost forgotten ever since basic started.

A wry smile appeared on my face. That among other things was a transition that took some time to get used to. It was primary thanks to sergeant Vong's training that I managed to complete the Point with such a high scores – otherwise, I would have wasted too much time getting accustomed to the military lifestyle and lack of creature comforts. After all, being raised as a pampered Britannian prince really doesn't prepare you for the real world unless someone takes steps to make sure you are ready. To be fair, that wasn't something that really concerned most of my siblings, though anyone who wanted to make his mark in the army was in for a rude surprise.

Speaking about luxury – on the outside the officer quarters didn't look like much. Just a six story reinforced concrete building that could survive some light shelling. The inside was something else – a reflection that Area Six had been in our hands for a long time. The entrance looked reasonably modern – all metal, tiles and guards. Beyond that however… I had the sense that I've stepped in one of Pendragon's many clubs catering for the nobility, something that made sense. At the time this place had been furnished, most officers probably were nobles – something that had been changing in the last forty or so years as the military expanded in order to meet Britannia's needs.

Hell, even the hallways were covered with thick, expensive carpets and the walls had expensive looking wooden panelling.

It wouldn't surprise me if Cornelia's suite would be fit for the Emperor himself even if father wasn't one to particularly care about such things beyond what was expected from someone who had clawed his way up to the top. Especially nowadays when he was letting more and more of the running of the Empire to my siblings.

Yep, 'Nelly's suite didn't disappoint. It wasn't as ostentatious as our home, but it was hard to tell the difference – the place resembled more of a museum with modern conveniences added than anything else. From the ebony and mahogany on the walls, to the thick velvet curtains, rich Persian carpets, hand carved furniture… I shook my head. That place had obviously had been a governor's residence for not an insignificant amount of time when it was built or whoever furnished it had been written a blank check and told to go wild.

At least it was tasteful, not like some noble homes I've seen in Pendragon. There were a few places that almost made me claw at my eyes after going inside.

"I like your new digs, 'Nelly!" I waved cheerfully at my elder sister, who was sitting around a coffee table covered up with snacks.

Next to her, Euphie waved back and grinned around a muffin, earning herself a scolding from Mother for displaying manners un-befitting a lady.

"At least you don't look like a ruffian." Mom scowled at my fatigues once she was done chastising my little sister.

I sighed. She was never going to get over my teenage rebellion phase – even if it lasted just a couple of weeks before I was dissuaded from it by being given to Vong to shape me up. Those were "fun" few months.

I sat across the table from Cornelia and with a practiced ease went for the pot of hot coffee, leaving all the tea to Mom and Euphie. That earned me another frown. Apparently, young ladies and gentlemen like me were supposed to live on tea instead of coffee. Don't get me wrong, I did love cuppa, but after starting the Point I practically lived on the black gold and I don't mean petrol.

As far as Mom was concerned, the academy had corrupted her two eldest children and she was determined that at least Euphie would remain a proper lady. That reminded me that my poor little sister was left with all of Mother's attention ever since I followed into 'Nelly's footsteps and left home for the military. I probably should make up for that before Euphie turned into a typical Britannian noble lady – not something I wanted to think about.

We all loved Mom, but some time she was just impossible with her fixation on making us all into proper nobles.

"Del, are you with us?" Cornelia glared at me.

I looked up from my coffee. Huh. My mind had drifted and I wasn't paying attention. I obviously needed some more time to either sleep or meditate, preferably both.

"I'm still awakening." I nodded at the cup in my hands. "I'm not really up before my first coffee for the day." I drank a mouthful of the hot liquid and sighed in content. It was the best stuff – produced in this very Area in fact.

"Your fascination with that awful liquid is simply disgusting." Mom sighed, finally leaving the noble propriety behind and relaxing on the couch.

"Look at it from the bright side – that's way all the best tea's left for you and Euphie." I countered.

"There are servants, orderlies or whatever the help's called around here to make more." Mom snipped back.

'Nelly shook her head and a fond smile tugged her lips.

"Orderlies." Cornelia took a sip of her own coffee, sighed in content and looked sharply at Mother. "While I would love nothing more than a quiet family breakfast and a bit of time to relax, I simply don't have the time for it." My older sister sighed. She glanced at her watch – a gift from me I gave her when she graduated the Point. It was water and impact resistant, something that she probably found useful. "Mother, where exactly do we stand. My information about our allies in Pendragon is fragmented at best and mostly conjecture."

Mom pursed her lips and for a moment looked all her fifty years.

"Politically? Right now we're ruined. What friends we had been either destroyed, exiled or wouldn't acknowledge we exist in order to protect themselves. The same goes for everyone else who supported Marianne. A few of the more enterprising ones might rebuild their power bases but that would take years and most of them would have to start in the areas or even abroad to have any chance. For the foreseeable future, Pendragon is hostile to our family." Mother succinctly explained our political situation and didn't hide her displeasure with the mess.

"We though as much." 'Nelly nodded at me.

"That helps explain this mess. It's likely a set up, though we can use that." I added, trying to channel my new memories into something useful. "Our Intel services either dropped the ball badly or were ordered to look the other way while this whole fiasco was set up."

"You want to go after them." Cornelia summarized.

"It's not like we can trust them after they left us all hanging. The same goes for a lot of the local police and government." I shrugged.

"Those are more or less the same conclusions my staff and I reached." 'Nelly nodded. "We have a few military intelligence types we'll be using. By we, I mean you." Cornelia gave me a cheerful smile. "I understand you're uniquely qualified to head up cleaning up that particular viper's nest. I'll even throw in an incentive – you're getting brevetted to a captain and I might even let you keep the rank permanently if you get the job done without getting into too much trouble."

"No going out to be shot at?" Mom gave my big sister a pointed look.

"Nope. He'll have people for that." Cornelia grinned at me. "It's a staff position and most of his work will be on base anyway." She added.

Was that a punishment for going out with my platoon after retrieving our family or just the reward for a job well done? I certainly couldn't tell the difference.

Yet… Veil had dealt with similar messes and worse. Besides, I had the Force and could and would cheat. Plus, we needed to figure out if what we faced in the last few days was all the insurrectionists had to throw at us or just an appetizer for things to come. Someone in the intelligence apparatus in Area Six had to know what the hell was happening here.

"Good." Mom relaxed. "I trust that between you two the local unpleasantries will be promptly resolved so we could concentrate on the important issue – restoring our family's reputation and power."

"Step one is securing Area Six and making sure that no one in their right mind is going to pull of another such stunt." I grumbled. The fucks went after my family and I would be dealing with whoever was behind this little show personally. If I ever got my hands on them I would show them why a whole galaxy was terrified by the Sith.

"You do that. Once it's reasonably safe, we should start making connections and alliances among the local nobility and lesser power players. Those who didn't inconveniently got themselves killed that is." Mom smiled. "As for the rest – a death or two could be useful during a hostile takeover."

Sometimes even I forget that below the mellow and typical noble lady mask Mother usually wore, she hid a keen mind and a lot of ruthlessness. That was one of the chief reasons why our family's star rose when she took the reins of power from grandmother shortly before Cornelia was born.

It was just too bad that some times Mom had skewed priorities… Yep. She was frowning at my fatigues again. It wasn't like I could be out in the field into something that 'Nelly cheerfully wore around the base. Besides, while purple and pink did suit the females in the family, it simply wasn't my colour.

"Manufacturing as well as R&D." I looked at Cornelia, hoping that she would get my meaning. My sister stared back and raised an eyebrow.

I gave her a sharp nod and saw a sharp smile forming on her face.

"That would be for the best." 'Nelly nodded. "We could use some local procured supplies and equipment as well as some modifications we have in mind." She returned my nod.

"Can't really trust receiving proper supply from the Mainland?" Mother asked. She groaned. "Of course not. Even if it isn't official, someone would probably try messing with us to cure favour with the powers that be in Pendragon. I'll see what I can do. Exactly what powers you have in this Area dear?" A shark like grin appeared on Mom's face, one matched by Cornelia.

I had the feeling that a lot of people in Pendragon would rue the day when they fucked us over and didn't succeed removing us from the playing board.

I finished my coffee and closed my eyes savouring the taste. If, or rather when Mom was able to procure some manufacturing and research assets I had _ideas._ While a lot of what Veil was familiar with tech wise was a long, long time away even with the best funding and minds at it, there were still many things that went from mere upgrades up to game changers that should be achievable in a reasonable amount of time.

In his time in that other galaxy, or was it a dimension, my namesake had picked up a lot of things.

I shook my head. My dreams of introducing better tech would have to wait. Eat first, then deal with the spooks.

With that thought I fell on the snacks, earning myself scolding from Mom for eating like a pig.

 **=ABKR=**

 **Safe house**

 **Buenos Aires**

 **Area Six**

"Damn it Nate, stay still!" Lora hissed at her boss.

Said man was laying on the dinning table and too engaged biting into a wooden spoon to answer with anything more intelligible than painted grunts and moans.

"You're damn lucky, you know that?" The woman glared at the man she was treating. "If this was machine gun round, you might have lost the arm."

Lora frowned and continued cleaning up the wound using alcohol. She was pretty sure that her boss had gotten very lucky to be tagged into the shoulder instead the head or chest by that damn Britannian sniper. She was too for that matter – because, the higher floor positions like theirs were taken out primary by auto-cannon and grenade launcher fire – something none of them would have survived. The close miss that ravaged the terrace was bad enough.

"That's it." Lora sighed. "Now I just need to sew you up and bandage the wound." And apply more alcohol to hopefully keep any infections at bay, but she didn't add that aloud. It was a miracle that Nate hadn't lost too much blood until they could sneak into a safe-house unobserved. That's on top of reaching it while the Britannians and the rest of the freedom fighters were too busy tearing each other apart all over the city.

"Good." Nate removed the spoon. "That's nastier than my grandfather's moonshine." He nodded at the medical proof rot-gut Lora was using.

"I wouldn't know. What do we do now?" She asked.

Nate looked around, finally paying attention to their surroundings. The safe house appeared to be an ordinary middle class house on the outskirts of the city. Reaching it and getting in unobserved in the middle of the night hadn't been fun, much less with him almost high on painkillers and stimulants.

"We need information. The fighting has been dying out in the last few hours..." Even someone in his condition couldn't help but notice the fire-fights and explosions becoming less and less frequent.

"It would be easy to figure out the Britannian's version." Lora nodded at a small TV on the kitchen's counter.

Nate snorted. "I can already imagine it. Even if we had managed to kick them out of Brazil, they would hail it as a victory, the Imperialist bastards."

"That would be too much for even them, I reckon." Lora smiled for the first time since everything went to hell.

"True, true. We'll need to speak with the Coordinator and seek new orders as well as information on how successful the strikes were." Nate frowned.

"I have my doubts." Laura whispered as she picked up a needle and started carefully sewing up Nate's wound. "After the Britannians found us..." She trailed off.

"That was at least a mech platoon, military obviously and not the police. We have a leak somewhere." Nate winced as the needle went through a particularly tender spot. "Not surprising. We're too big an operation for to keep everything quiet."

"Stay still. This isn't exactly easy you know." Lora glared at the fidgeting man.

"I don't need to prove my masculinity to anyone." Nate grumbled.

"What masculinity, you big baby?"


	3. Chapter 3 V2

**Disclaimer: I don't own either of the Code Geass, Gundam Seed or Star wars franchises. This story is not written with commercial purpose in mind. I make no money from it. It is not for sale or rent.**

 **A Black Knight Rising**

 **Chapter 3: Military Intelligence is not an oxymoron…**

 **=ABKR=**

 **Part 1**

 **18 March 2009 A.T.B.  
Army base "Lancelot"  
Area Six **

Half hour after finishing breakfast, I was clad in a Class I officer's uniform complete with a captain's insignias. I had the paperwork concerning my brevet rank too and it was time to get to work. I took a deep breath and accessed the Force. A soothing cool wave passed through me and my senses grew sharper; the world around me – brighter. I still couldn't help it but wonder at the sensation – it was as if I've been blind and deaf my whole life up until now.

I straightened up. With the Force at my side and Veil's memories I could use to my advantage it was unlikely that I would fail. It was time to get to work.

My first task was to meet my aide – a lieutenant who had been relegated to a staff position. She should be waiting for me near the entrance of the compound where our Military Intelligence staff was working. I opened the thick folder I was carrying, moved aside my papers and looked over the file of one Viletta Nu. A cute face stared back from her picture. She had a short hair in a colour that my new memories deemed quite odd – it was stated as bluish teal though it appeared to be gunmetal grey. The woman had sharp angular yet attractive features and striking large yellow eyes.

I couldn't see anything of her figure from her picture. That thought made me stop and groan. When all was said and done, I was just leaving my teenage years behind and my hormones were still acting up. That wasn't something I would have noticed just a few weeks ago, yet it was different now. I frowned. There was a part of me that was bloody irritated that the first thing I noticed about my aide to be was how attractive she was – from a picture no less, instead of not paying attention to how she looked until I had digested her record and found out how competent the military deemed her.

What else did my new memories changed in me? How long would it be before I couldn't recognize myself?

Did it really matter? I remembered Veil's face vividly. It was the same as mine – just decades older. Damn it, this was weird. It should have been something I thought about after I got these memories and the Force…

A dark chuckle escape my lips and I shook my head. No. It didn't matter. As long as keeping my family safe remained my top priority, I didn't care how those memories would change me. It was small price to pay to protect those few who were precious to me, one that I would gladly pay again.

I returned my attention to the dossier.

First Lieutenant Nu. A year long stint as a platoon CO, before being sent to a staff position to gain experience. Did well enough to merit such a change in circumstances, which was necessary before she had a chance for a promotion.

Great, my aide had a bit more experience than me. I would have to work ever harder to keep proving that I didn't owe my temporarily promotion to nepotism.

Hmm, Nu was a commoner – which might cause friction with some Nobles in the army who would believe that being my aide would be far above her station. On the other hand, gaining the lieutenant's loyalty and if she was competent enough arranging a tittle for her might bind the woman to me for the long haul. That was something to consider.

Besides, she was quite easy on the eyes – my gaze drifted up to her picture and I groaned. At lest she wasn't too old to make things socially troublesome. Nu had turned nineteen just a month ago.

Down boy! Bloody hormones! I grit my teeth and used one of the mental exercises Veil knew to concentrate my mind. I muttered a curse and continued browsing the file.

The LT had graduated Toronto Military Academy in the top thirty percent of her class, which was followed by her tour in the mechanized infantry before her current post – logistics. That thought made the face of a human-like alien flash through my mind – the only real difference was the small horns he has all over his head instead of hair.

General Telar Valentra – my memories supplied. He was the man in charge of the Republic's logistic as well as R&D during the Clone Wars. His efforts were critical for the war effort.

I shook my head at that bit of trivia. Yeah, message receive loud and clear! Logistics were very important, don't fuck them up ever.

That was something emphasized at the Point, though not everyone took the lesson to heart. Too many saw no glory in dealing with logistics.

Perhaps I should have been paying more attention. Hopefully, Veil's memories would help in that regard too.

I finished browsing Nu's file and headed for the Intel compound.

 **=ABKR=**

I found the Lieutenant waiting for me near the checkpoint at the main entrance. She stood at parade rest and had a blank expression on her face. Before I could stop them, my eyes were drawn to her lithe figure. Damn it, the woman filled up her uniform nicely.

Was it that hard to ask certain parts of my anatomy to keep things professional damn it?! I forced my mind to think about the bastards who attacked my family a few days ago and the fact that they had such an opportunity because Intel not only dropped the ball, but threw it away and refused to play. That got my blood boiling and shifted my attention away from my aide's curves.

I strode next to the waiting woman.

"Lieutenant Nu, captain li Britannia. Have you been briefed on your new assignment?" I asked in as a professional tone as I could manage.

"Your Highness!" The LT fell on one knee and made me roll my eyes. It was clear she hadn't met riyal's before and decide to play things safely.

"Keep that for official ceremonies and the likes. Outside those and combat areas saluting is more than enough, lieutenant. Now please answer my question."

Nu got up in one smooth motion, which made her quite large bust bounce and saluted. I returned it and pointedly studied her face, though my eyes wanted to look to the south.

"No, sir! I was ordered to wait here for my new CO." She answered crisply. She had quite nice voice too.

I considered either getting myself laid or beating a certain part of my anatomy with a stick to keep my hormones in check. Who knew, being a randy teenager sucked. I frowned and the LT blanched.

"Not your fault. I'm sure it 'accidentally' slipped my sister's mind. Either that or whoever actually cut your orders decided to try getting you into trouble because you aren't a noble." I shook my head. "All I care about is competence, so your status as a commoner is of no consequence as far as I'm concerned." I spoke more or less on autopilot.

I wanted to kick myself too. I clearly remember that I wasn't that distracted by beautiful women before crash-landing in Africa and making my deal. From what I remember, Veil did get laid a lot, but he was seldom distracted either.

Ah. The Force – I was currently using it to enhance my senses. Was that responsible for my hormones going haywire? I knew Veil didn't have such problems but he was practically middle aged before he began his training…

I let the Force go and the world appeared blander. Nu was still a very attractive young woman, yet I had much, much easier time keeping my eyes away from her curves or my mind from straying straight into the gutter. Damn it, I didn't have such a problem when in combat or otherwise in danger. Nor around my sisters, which while beautiful I simply didn't see that way. But right here and now, around a woman who was available to be pursued?

Yeah, I needed to find some time for myself and sort out my head before I did something really foolish.

"Sir?" The LT asked warily.

Great, now my aide thought that I was either weird or absent-minded.

"Nothing to worry about, I was just mentally cursing certain people at HQ." I brushed off her concern. "Your new duty is to be my aide. We're to figure out how the insurgents were able to put such a big operation in this Area right under the noses of our agents. Now follow me." I nodded at the checkpoint.

"Yes, sir! I'll do my best." Nu answered immediately.

"That's all I ask for."

 **=ABKR=**

 **Part 2**

 **18 March 2009 A.T.B.**

 **Military Intelligence section  
Army base "Lancelot"  
Area Six **

I whistled a jaunty tune while a corporal escorted us to meet Colonel Sanders – the commander of all Military Intelligence assets attached to Cornelia's army. The orders I brought with me were going to ensure that he wasn't going to be one of my fans. After all, I was going to be trampling all around his domain with steel heeled boots.

We were led through a large room divided in cubicles and full with people analysing all kinds of data captured from the insurgents. It took some effort not to sent them a baleful glare. Those same analysts and their civilian counterparts were supposed figure out that the insurgents were smuggling what by last estimates was almost a battalion of terrorists with heavy weapons in the city next to this base. Instead, the first we knew of the bastards was when they were about to ambush my convoy.

The only good thing about this whole damned situation was the fact that I was highly motivated to get to the bottom of this mess and see that everyone responsible received their just reward.

Sanders' office was just past the analyst's cubicles. It wasn't particularly big room, though just like a lot of places in this base, it was lavishly decorated. The colonel had added his touch too – one whole wall was covered with medals in glass cases, framed citations and diplomas along with pictures of Sanders with various nobles and generals. That obvious display of his connection might have deterred some people who didn't want to risk angering certain people at court.

Given how my family was just fucked over by Pendragon's politics, I didn't give a fuck about whose toes I might step on.

"Your highness!" Sanders looked from his computer terminal.

The colonel was a tall man with short black hair and brown eyes. His complexion was pale – obviously the man didn't get out much. Sanders was quite large too – broad shoulders and almost barrel like chest and a lot of muscles. His face's most notable features were a large nose and the fact that he was shaven so well his cheeks had a blue tint.

Sanders raised to greet us with a wide smile plastered all over his face. I didn't need the Force to figure out it was mostly fake.

"To what do I owe the honour?" He beamed at me and offered his hand.

"Colonel." I gave him the tiniest of nods, then opened the folder I still carried and retrieved my orders, then handed them into his outstretched hand. "This will be all, corporal. The colonel and I need to have a little chat." I ordered.

Sanders frowned, but took the papers I gave him and made a good show of carefully reading them. He was buying himself time to think and decide how to proceed.

The door behind me closed. I called on the Force and used telekinesis to lock it too, then took a step forward. I could feel Nu's confusion when she heard the door lock by itself.

"Colonel, tell me about the insurrection in this Area." I waved my hand at him – a gesture that helped me concentrate on making the suggestion laced in my voice more potent.

"The Rebels?" He looked up and shook his head. "We're currently going over all the data and I hope we'll have some answers soon."

"What did you know before they began their attacks?" I pushed. "How long have you known they've been infiltrating people and equipment in the city?" I took another step towards the man. He began retreating until his back hit a wall.

"I..." Sanders shook his head. There were beads of sweat forming on his forehead and leaking down his well shaved cheeks. "It… it was a complete surprise, Your Highness!" He stammered.

"Really? So the terrorists managed to get at least a battalion worth of infantry in the city right next door to this base, enough weapons to conquer a third world nation and then attacked a convoy with one of the Emperor's consorts and two of his children, without you being none the wiser?" I sneered at the man. "Forgive me, colonel, but somehow you don't strike me as an incompetent fool. Unfortunately for you, that leaves more sinister options."

I began to slowly walk around his desk towards Sanders. All it took was focusing my anger through the Force and the man found it hard to breathe. Then I increased the pressure on his mind.

"Answer my question, colonel. Was it mere incompetence, no matter how unlikely or treason?" I asked lightly. There was no trace of my rising fury in my voice.

Sanders gasped and grabbed the neckline of his uniform, then began to tug it away from his throat.

"Your highness…" The colonel struggled to breath. "I…"

"Answer me!" I hissed.

"Orders…" He gasped. "Ignore… irregularities… leave them to local police and intelligence services..."

I reigned in my temper and allowed Sanders to breathe a bit easier. "It's treason then." I smiled thinly. "By all means I should have your head for this. Your actions almost cost me the lives of my mother and little sister. My soldiers died after we entered into an ambush blind. Good men and women were murdered because you chose to keep your eyes shut." A burst of telekinesis slammed Sanders into the wall. "I owe your ass, colonel. Start talking. I want to know every bit of trivia you failed to investigate or report to my sister. I want to know what exactly did you forward to the authorities in this Area and to whom you sent the information. Names, locations. I want to know who gave the orders to set up not only my family but every single soldier in this army!" I glared at the man. "Talk!"

At the same time I used the Force to switch on a recorder I had appropriated for this.

Sanders did talk. Oh, he certainly did. That was both more and less helpful than I hopped. Whoever made a power play against Empress Marianne and our family had planned things well in advance. Thanks to the few intercepts he was aware of, Sanders knew that the terrorists had been funnelling both men and equipment to the city for at least a year. He suspected of at least two bases deep in the jungles supplied through the rivers and he believed that no one really tried to interdict those shipments – everyone apparently though that they were just contraband and were content with taking bribes to look away.

Those were probably training camps – too isolated and easy to cut off if to be something more, because once we figured out how they got supplied, interdicting the rivers by air would be quite simple.

Useful Intel and good starting points. What Sanders didn't really know was how many of his people would follow an order or even suggestion from Pendragon to screw this army over. I would have to interview all his bloody staff and hope the Force would help me root out anyone unreliable.

Another problem was where the orders to fuck us over came from – both through official channels and as suggestions from certain nobles. Even my eldest sister Guinevere appeared to be involved. Cornelia and I, we had to prove ourselves to father as reasonable competent and useful. It was unfortunate that I probably got his attention already – that explains why Bismark himself arranged the arrival of mother and Euphie.

Sander's information wasn't all doom and gloom. There were some more useful bits he supplied – like where and to whom his people were instructed to sent any information concerning the rebels. Once I got this recording to Cornelia, I probably would arrange for the Military Intelligence people on the base to be kept under close guard until I went hunting – otherwise it was likely that someone would warn the Intelligence directorate of this Area and make my job even harder.

Once Sanders told me all he knew, I used the Force to sent him napping, stopped the recording and turned my attention to my aide. During this little interview, I've been getting some quite interesting emotions coming from her. From sheer disbelief to wariness, a bit of fear and outrage at being betrayed by Pendragon. I would have to handle her carefully or risk alienating her towards the Empire and myself, in which case I might have to do something unfortunate for her continued well-being.

However, the job at hand first. A bit of telekinesis later and I had a QRF made of my platoon heading this way. Their official job this morning was to gear up and prepare to go relieve one of the units keeping the order in Buenos Aires or helping with SAR efforts. Naturally, I made sure they were ready to mount their vehicles and get here ASAP before I came to have my chat with Sander. With that done, I concentrated my attention on Nu. We had to have a little chat if she was to be around me for any prolonged period.

 **=ABKR=**

 **Part 3**

 **18 March 2009 A.T. B.**

 **Military Intelligence section  
Army base "Lancelot"  
Area Six **

People might expect that a hostile takeover of a military or well any intelligence compound could be something quite hard to do. They would be right – at least in theory. Getting a sizeable unit of properly equipped soldiers in place would be quite hard at the best of times. They would be detected by either civilian or military authorities, perhaps both depending on the situation or location.

Unless the site in question relied primary on obscurity for protection, you could expect a sizeable security detachment and then there were both law enforcement and military units that could be called in at short notice.

That was especially true for a compound located in the middle of a military base that was on a high alert and had some of its units engaged nearby.

All of the above was true in this case. However, all those defences were meant to deter an outside hostile force. Having a platoon of friendly forces roll in and park in front of all entrances and then storm the building changes the equation, especially when those troops are reasonably familiar with the site's internal layout. The odds could be altered further when said platoon is acting on lawful orders and the Intelligence compound couldn't rely on any reinforcements.

The last nail in the coffin was that most people working inside were actually analysts and technical specialists. While some of them got proper infantry training and a few even experience in special operations, that didn't meant much. Most of them were unarmed or had side-arms at most. The surprise was complete – the security centre figured out something was wrong only after an APC stopped in front of the checkpoint at the main entrance, levelled its auto-cannon at the guards and began disgorging fully equipped infantry.

If this was a purposely built HQ for Military Intelligence or a similar outfit, there might have been automate defences and armoured panels ready to slide in place and cut access. The only thing available to slow down my men were the doors – which were admittedly pretty heavy and often armoured themselves – and completely useless because thanks to Cornelia my people had the necessary access codes. I was sure that the demo experts would be disappointed because they didn't get to use all those nice breaching charges they packed just in case.

I smiled after the recording was over and looked away from the monitors in the security centre.

"Two minutes fifty-three seconds." I nodded at sergeant McGraaf who had tactical command. "Only one idiot got himself shot and you had to rough up, how many nobles?"

"Four." The NCO answered sourly. "They're still protesting their treatment and continue to issue threats, sir." Johnson added.

"Do they? Send them to cool their heels in the stockade. I'll be speaking with them last." What was with Britannian nobility being made up by a lot of arrogant bastards? "Get the platoon formed up after the military police is here to secure the building. We still have work to do. Lieutenant Nu, walk with me, its time to have that chat I promised before all the excitement started."

"I'm on it, sir." McGraaf saluted and marched out of the room.

"Sir..." Viletta began to protest.

"I know you have questions and if we're to work together you'll need to receive some answers sooner rather than later. Now follow me, we'll find somewhere with a lot less bugs to talk."

 **=ABKR=**

 **18 March 2009 A.T.B.**

 **Armour park  
Army base "Lancelot"  
Area Six **

"This is as good place as any I guess." I said. We were surrounded by a large space where a division worth of tanks, AFVs and APCs were parked. Some were undergoing maintenance, others were being subjected to various tests. There were enough engines roaring nearby to make long range microphones less than ideal for listening to Nu and me. I used the Force to sweep the area and make sure that there was no one in a two hundred meter radius. "You have questions, lieutenant. Ask them." I turned around and gave Viletta an expectant look.

"What happened in the colonel's office, sir? When you spoke to him..." Nu shook her head and looked away.

I could easily feel confusion and embarrassment coming from her fighting with a growing amount of fear and sheer disbelief as her mind refused to accept what she suspected.

"There are more things on this world that most suspect, Viletta." I spoke in a soothing tone. "Powers that are relegated to no more than myths and legends by the masses. Its what allowed me to escape my captivity in Africa."

"Powers, sir?" Viletta asked warily.

My eyes never left Viletta's face. How she reacted when I revealed I wielded "magic" powers, would tell me if I would be arranging an accident for her later today. Hopefully not.

The timing was less than ideal, but after I practically slipped against Sanders, I didn't trust myself not to do it again while my aide was around. I searched through the Force again so I could be reasonably sure no one was observing us and just in case made the air around us shimmer as if the heat and moisture in the air were to blame. Good luck getting a decent image of us with current Earth technology. Then I slowly raised my hand and showed Viletta my open palm. It took just an effort of will and I had electricity arching between my fingers.

Nu gasped and took a step back.

"I won't hurt you, lieutenant." Not right now and hopefully never, I added in my mind. I cut off the light-show and carefully picked Viletta up using the Force so she was floating a few centimetres above the ground. "Another ability of mine is that I could be quite persuasive against those with weaker minds. Fortunately colonel Sanders fell in that category. That he wasn't entirely pleased with his orders even if he followed them without a question helped too." I carefully deposed Viletta back on her feet.

Nu took a shaky step back. Her fear was spiking and the bloody Dark Side made me savour that emotion. Yet, among the cauldron of emotion bubbling in her heart, there was wonder too. I could work with that.

"Am I so different now you know my little dirty secret?" I gave her a wan smile. "You would have likely figured out that I wasn't exactly normal sooner rather than latter, Viletta. After the attack upon my family my self control isn't what it used to be, especially when anyone involved is concerned."

"How is this possible?" Viletta asked quietly.

"As I said, there are more things on Earth than most people suspect. The how? Forgotten knowledge? Space magic?" I shrugged. "I call my abilities the Force – I know, not too original."

"Why did you tell me?" The lieutenant shook her head. "It wasn't just because I might have figure it out, was it, Your Highness?"

"Perceptive." I smiled. "It was – in part at least. Being my aide, it was just a matter of time. If I had controlled myself better with Sanders..." I shook my head. I did screw up. "In the end, I decided to offer you a modicum of trust and tell you the truth in more or less controlled environment."

Disbelief reared its ugly head and pushed back the fear and wonder Viletta was feeling.

"Viletta, you're to be my aide at a time when my family is under not only political but very real physical attack. That means you will be close not only to my person but to the people that matter most to me. If this is to work, I need to trust you. Throwing you such a curve ball is an excellent way to judge your character. A simple file, no matter how comprehensive can tell me only so much." I chose my words carefully.

The Dark Side was delighted at the prospect of a possible murder and was trying to encourage me – I could feel my patience running out and my temper fraying despite Nu taking the revelation and demonstration rather good so far. I ruthlessly squashed my rogue emotions and refocused my attention on the lieutenant.

"Why me? I'm a nobody – just a commoner." Viletta frowned.

"You did well enough to catch Cornelia's eye and she's the one who recommended you. That says a lot both about your character and competence. I do trust my sister's judgement. However, I simply couldn't take a chance when the lives of my family are on the line. As for not being a noble," I chuckled. "the presence of lack of title says nothing about a person's worth." I continued studying Viletta.

"This… this is too much!" Nu snapped.

"Don't I know it? The first I knew about the Force was Africa and it was only thanks to those abilities I managed to make it out mostly intact. They gave me an edge in the city fighting too. Despite that, there are still moments I think all of this is little more than a demented dream." I smiled softly. "Viletta, can I trust you? Can Cornelia trust you? Can I have you near my mother and little sister?"

"Of course, your Highness!" Nu automatically snapped to a rigid attention.

"No, not of course. You heard Sanders. Are you loyal to Britannia, lieutenant?" I asked.

That question earned me a stab of flaring anger and indignation. Nu gave me an impressive murderous glare too.

"I am loyal!" The lieutenant bit off in an angry, clipped tone.

"I know." My smile widened a bit. "But what is the Empire to you, Viletta? What is Britannia? Is it my father? The land we've conquered – the homeland and the areas? The royal family? The people?" I asked.

"Its..." Nu trailed off and stopped to think.

"Viletta, don't lie to me. Please. I need to hear what you really think." I whispered and my words were laced with the Force.

"I'm not sure." Nu frowned. "All of the above?"

"Most people in Pendragon wouldn't agree with such a definition. Yet, it's the truth. When you're out there, fighting, it's not for some vague ideal. It's for the people you care about, both on the battlefield beside you and those at home. It's for a cause you believe in strong enough to risk life and limb. So I'll ask you again, Viletta, what is the Empire to you? Why do you fight for Britannia?"

There was barely a hint of power in my voice – just enough to give her a nudge.

A flare of fierce determination came from Nu.

"I want to make my family proud, your Highness. I want to earn a place among the peerage." Viletta's tone was clipped, angry. "I want to be the best soldier I could be."

"Ambitious. Not unexpected given your family history – the Nu's do have a tradition of service in the armed forces, don't you?" I asked.

"Yes, your Highness. Ever since the Great War." Viletta nodded.

"Still, I have to wonder… What would you do in Sanders' shoes? Can I expect you to stab me and my family in the back if you're ordered to by someone in Pendragon?" I knew Viletta was outraged and infuriated by what she learned. That she hadn't had time to come to terms with that revelation. That in fact was one of the primary reasons I rushed this talk. Her world-view was shaken and this was probably the best time to judge her as a person and if possible bind her loyalty to my branch of the royal family.

Nu's face twisted into an angry mask when my questions registered. Fury and indignation chased off all other emotions.

"I'm no traitor!" Viletta spat. "I will never betray the trust of my men!"

"Even if ordered by another prince? Even if offered the title you covet in exchange?" I asked mildly.

Her fury was like a blazing star. Simply exquisite.

"Even for a title." Viletta's eyes bored into mine. "I am no traitor." Nu repeated.

Oh, my. She actually meant it. Every single word. I smiled and this time it was genuine.

"You may very well be forced in such a position by my family's enemies in the capital. Unless you chose to risk it all and align with us."

"Your Highness," Viletta growled. "Whoever was behind Sanders' orders, they aren't people I could follow. They betrayed us all." Her fury continued to burn brightly, though now it wasn't aimed at me because of questioning her loyalty.

There was a hint of it below all that anger. The pain of the betrayal. After all, our homeland in the face of the people in Pendragon deemed us expendable because of their petty political games. I could work with this.

"Even those among the royal family like Guinevere?" I asked a loaded question.

"Especially them." Viletta hissed.

And to think that according my fragmented memories Nu was supposed to join a purist faction in little more than half a decade. I shook my head. How could I remember such trivia and yet fail to recall more important facts about that possible future? I know its been a very long time since Veil even heart something about my world, yet… I sighed. It didn't matter. Before I reached the point of time he had some decent knowledge of, things would be significantly different. I was going to be engaged gaining as much power and influence as I could and that would change things significantly.

"You're a pleasant surprise, lieutenant Nu." I declared. "Loyalty in return is all I can really offer you right now. A pledge that I will fight beside you against whatever comes our way. That I won't betray your trust because its convenient or for some nebulous political gain."

"That is all I ever asked for, your Highness." Viletta's fury subdued and it was replaced by relief and mortification.

"Welcome on board, Viletta. Come on, we have some traitors to deal with."

Well, this went better than expected. Now it remained to be seen if Viletta's determination and ideals would falter in the future. I guess I should be thankful for Sanders' controllers for pushing her into my hands.

 **=ABKR=**

 **18 March 2009 A.T. B.  
Cornelia's office**

 **Army base "Lancelot"  
Area Six **

"This is a god damned mess!" My older sister seethed. She just finished listening to Sanders' confession and was livid.

"The implications aren't lost on me, Nelly. However, for the time being we aren't in a position to do anything to our enemies in the capital. What we can do is finish cleaning up house here. I want permission to go and have a chat with our local anti-terror and Intelligence outfits."

"I know!" Cornelia grumbled. "Now that you've screened our intelligence people you're roaring to go play." My sister accused.

"True. That doesn't change the situation. We need to deal with any leaks and traitors in the local law enforcement, intelligence and government if we're to secure this bloody Area."

"Coordinate with Darlton. I'm relegating an infantry battalion to the job. Secure their HQ and known sites in and around Buenos Aires and find out how deep the rot is set, then burn it out. I'll deal with the government. I'm sending Guilford to oversee the destruction of suspect insurgent bases and to gather additional Intel as well as prisoners. Once that's done we'll see where we'll go from there. How are you holding up?" Nelly asked.

"Been better. I need some time for myself, sister. I almost fucked things up with Sanders. Enough for Nu to notice something was weird so I had to come partially clean with her. So far so good, but we'll see how reliable she would be in the long run." I admitted.

Cornelia gave me a concerned look. She frowned and stood up abruptly, walked around her desk and pulled me into a fierce hug.

"I shouldn't have let you deal with this. Not now." Nelly whispered. "You're getting your time off now. Darlton and I will deal with the locals. I have an utmost confidence that our Intel people will go above and beyond after you went through them. They'll give us enough solid intelligence to go after the rebels."

"I..." I sighed and rested my head on Nelly's shoulder as I used to do as a kid. "Thank you, sister. For caring."

"Go get your head straight. I'll be keeping an eye on your aide." Nelly pulled back.

 **=ABKR=**

 **25 March 2009 A.T.B.**

 **Imperial Palace**

 **Pendragon**

"Father." I bit off.

"Son." Charles zi Britannia smirked. The giant of the man towered above me even from the other side of the huge chamber. He was larger than any unenhanced human had any right to be – something I haven't even thought about until this moment.

All I could sense from the bastard was smug satisfaction and a lot of amusement.

The reason why I was here in the first place was simple – I've fucked up by the numbers. That had to be it. I believed myself to be oh so clever, that despite my slip ups, my abilities had remained below the radar. I certainly thought so when Cornelia gave me a bit of holiday to sort out my head. I actually had five days to myself and spent them meditating.

All was well until early this morning when I got a call from Bismark himself. It was short and to the point – I had to drag my ass to meet my father or the safety of my family could no longer be guaranteed. Translation – surrender myself or try running and see how long I could keep my mother and sisters alive with the Empire after us. Examining the situation through the Force gave me just a handful of brutally clear options – I could save myself if I ran, that was clear enough. The odds of keeping my family intact on the run… I would lose at least one, probably two of them. Considering that only Cornelia was a trained and experienced soldier, it wasn't hard to figure out who would have any realistic chance of making it.

The alternative… I was facing it now and the Force was telling me that I was in a terrible amount of danger and it was uncertain if I would be leaving this place alive.

I stared impassively at my father and did my best not to show how I felt. This part of the palace, this room – it felt weird. There was very real power here and it wasn't the Force, yet I couldn't figure it out. When I tried to probe it, I felt the same resistance I did back in Africa when I destroyed the mind of one of my captors.

Whatever this was, it had no obvious source. We were in a tall, empty chamber supported by elaborate columns. The floor was marble, the walls covered with intricately carved ebony panels and velvet curtains; nothing that stood out of the ordinary. Yet the place felt off and kept me on edge.

"You gave me an ultimatum. I came." I stated blandly.

The part of me that was a long dead Sith Lord raged at the situation. I willingly walked to what could be my death and with my family being hostages in all but name, I didn't have much choice. To fight was to condemn them. Veil might have found a way out, hell he had the power to take this world by himself. I had his knowledge, at least more of it unlocked with the passing of each day, though it would be a long time before I would be on a similar level power wise, if ever. Years, probably decades. In the end it wasn't just knowledge. It was experience, training and conditioning your body to handle the Force. There were no good short-cuts for the latter. At least none that were within my reach.

Oh, I had contingency plans to "persuade" my father to leave my family alone no matter what happened to me. However, meeting him here, at this place – it sent them askew. With that weird... resistance in the air, I wasn't convinced that even with the Force at my side I would be walking out of this room intact. I was playing a deadly game and I obviously didn't know the rules or all the participants – which was not a good place to be. That became crystal clear the moment Bismark led me into this room and left. From what little I knew of this world thanks to Veil's memories, what I was sensing in here should have been impossible.

"I did." Charles confirmed. "A month ago, you were nothing. Just another useless spawn of mine." A ghost of a smile appeared on his face. I could feel the tiniest silver of approval flare up below his amusement, though it was hard to be sure. It was like there was a glass panel between us that somehow ran interference for my powers.

"Still pissed off that Lelouch made an ass of himself in front of the court?" I shot back.

Charles frowned. Whatever he was expecting, I apparently wasn't acting according to script. It remained to be seen if that would be a good or a bad thing.

"I expected a son of mine to know better. After dealing with most of your brothers and sisters I should have known better." My father allowed.

I remained silent.

"Your miraculous survival gained you a lot of attention, my son. Not all of it positive." Father stated.

"Yours, I presume?" I inquired.

"If I wanted you dead, you would be." Charles snorted. "You've proven you possess a modicum of competence and an ability that makes you and the rest of the li Britannias a target. I can't protect you any more than I could shield Marianne." My Father fixed me with a cold stare.

I could sense no deception. Who the hell was out of his reach?

"I see I've got your attention, son." Charles continued. "You possess some interesting abilities. Many would want to have you as a lab rat because of them. The rest of the li Britannia's too, just in case its genetic."

My control slipped. I knew my eyes became yellow as the Dark Side surrounded me like a glove.

"Not a prospect you relish, is it?" Father chuckled darkly. His amusement vanished. It was replaced by bitter melancholy and long suppressed anger. "You're not the only one around with powers deemed impossible, son." His lips twisted into a bitter smile "Even if yours seem to be different from most.

"You didn't call me here just to gloat. Nor to commiserate or rub salt into my fuck ups." I stated coldly. The Force surrounding me was agitated. It was confused by whatever power was contained in this room.

"No. That would have been a waste of time." Father allowed. "What do you want, Delkatar? Speak the truth." Father's eyes bored into mine. His left eye blazed with purple light and a symbol similar to a stylized bird covered his iris.

The Force hissed in warning. I felt my mental shields scream as unknown force smashed into them. They held for a moment and I poured as much of the Force into them as I could. The power in the room trembled then crashed upon me. I could feel it took my actions as an attack and retaliated. The resistance in the air thickened.

My shields shattered and I could feel a foreign presence in my head. The sheer force of the backslash sent me to my knees. I felt Charles searching for something – he was somehow browsing through my memories, then stumbled upon Veil's and what he saw gave him pause.

His surprise was more than enough. I rallied and wrenched as much of the Force as my body could sustain, then threw Charles out of my head. The pressure upon me redoubled and I found myself struggling to stay on my knees. It was as if someone had turned on a gravity generator to produce at least a dozen standard gravities. Only using the Force to shield myself kept me from suffocating under the immense pressure.

"ENOUGH!" My father's voice snapped in a tone brooking no argument.

The pressure lifted and I was left gasping for sweet, precious air.

"Of all possible…" Charles laughed.

I glared his way. The man was on one knee and he was clutching his left eye, which was bleeding. However, that didn't stop him from feeling gleeful.

"A reincarnation. The gods surely have a sense of humour." My father stood up. He swept the blood away from his face and revealed two intact, normal eyes.

"What did you see?" I seethed. Its been a long, long time since Veil had his mind violated. As far as I knew, that hasn't happened to me ever. Until now.

The violation was infuriating.

"Enough. You tend to derail a lot of people's plans lately, son. Mine too I see." My father gave me the first genuine smile I ever got from him.

I frowned. I could sense his feelings clear as a day. The resistance in the room was still here, waiting yet it wasn't interfering right now. My father was proud of me. That feeling outshone everything else he was experiencing right now. It was certainly unexpected. It took me aback.

I stood up and kept the shield around me. The power in the room tensed and grew thicker, yet it didn't attack.

"Care to enlighten me?" I rasped.

"You aren't the only one with powers, Delkatar. Geass; the power of the King. Have you heard that term before?" Charles asked.

"Not described that way. Mindfuckery as you demonstrated. Or is there more to it?" I asked carefully.

"Depends on whom you ask. The power of Geass has shaped this world for millennia. People with the power of the King had changed the course of history multiple times. A Geass all but guaranteed Napoleon's ultimate victory for example." Charles went into lecture mode. In my limited experience, that's when my father was most annoying. Or perhaps it was the topic he usually lectured upon – his Social Darwinism.

"This isn't a theoretical discussion, is it?" I asked. The mere fact that father had a Geass strong enough to break through my mental defences for even a short time could prove fatal. The power in this place, which tried to crush me yet stopped at his call, that was even worse omen.

I wasn't sure my contingencies would be enough. With this weird power in here... I had to play this even more carefully than I feared.

Whatever Veil knew about this world, it had been incomplete, that much was clear and what I didn't know might very well prove fatal today.

"Not at all. There's an organization working from the shadows in this world. They call themselves the Geass Directorate. It was under the orders of their master that Marianne was murdered. The rest was just politics." My father explained. "I can't remove them at this time."

True. Not the whole truth, I was sure of it, yet father hasn't uttered a single lie. Well, some of the best lies and deceptions could be either hidden or disguised by telling the truth. I should know – Veil did it often enough.

"Can't or won't?" I asked.

"Moving against them now would be… unwise. Even for someone with your abilities. I saw a glimpse of your previous life, my son. It is sufficient to change my plans for you. It saw enough to know that if you stand against the Directorate as you're right now, you will die." Father stated with absolute conviction.

"Dying again doesn't faze me." I said.

"No. I gathered that much. How long do you think that Amelia and Euphemia would last after you get yourself killed?" Father asked.

"I would have given them good enough odds, before your little revelation." I admitted.

"Even if you had managed to either kill me or _change_ my mind, the Directorate would have gone after them. Out of spite if nothing else. However, I do have precautions against people with impossible abilities in place. You wouldn't have walked out of the palace alive, son." Charles confirmed my suspicions.

"I suspected as much." I stated neutrally. It was another question how effective his precautions would be, though I suspected they would be good enough when combined with all QRFs in and around Pendragon.

"Yet you came expecting to die or worse." Father noted.

"Its not like I had any better options." I shrugged.

"Your miraculous survival changed the plans of some people." Charles continued in his lecturing mode. "There shouldn't have been anything worse than limited terrorist attacks in Area Six. With you alive and the rest of the li Britannia conveniently in one place, the rebels were allowed to carry out their original plan." Charles offered.

"I see." I muttered. He certainly believed that narrative and it wasn't hart to see how it could have happened – just a few words in the right ears and the rebels would have been crushed before they could actually carry out their attacks. However, the timing didn't feel right – mother and Euphie came back shortly after my own arrival in Area Six. Most of the insurgents and their equipment, if not all should have been in place by then.

"Do you? That accident made us look weak. Perception in politics matters a great deal as you know." Charles continued to drone.

I suppressed a wince. The political consequences of the days long running battle in Buenos Aires – I didn't really think about them until just now.

"That is relevant to the matter at hand, how?" I asked. I was sure father was going to enlighten me, though once I actually thought about it, it wasn't hart to see where he was going with his line of thought.

"Our invasion of Indochina is proceeding apace. Combined with our recent troubles, that makes the Japanese uppity. They've entered talks with both the Europeans and the Chinese. If we succeed in taking a lot of (Indochina), we would be facing a united response. That was expected" Father explained. "Our recent troubles changed the equation. Our enemies sense weakness. Even now, more Chinese forces are moving to oppose us in the region. The Japanese threaten to close the whole area for our shipping. There are rumours of embargo even."

"That's an issue why exactly? It's not like we need the place. It's going to be more trouble than its worth – nothing more than a drain on our resources and a heap of political troubles at best." I countered. Even before gaining Veil's memories, I had a misgiving about that particular campaign. Win or lose, the region was going to be more trouble than it was worth.

"As far as most people know, the place is strategically worthless to us, even if it has some useful resources." Charles nodded and I felt he was pleased by my conclusions.

That made no bloody sense. I was expecting him to start ranting about his political theories and how giving up the invasion would be unacceptable. On the other hand, this whole meeting wasn't going how I imagined it would. Nor was father behaving as expected.

I remained silent. My mind was racing. This confrontation was nothing like what I had anticipated. My contingency plans were shot. With the power in this room, I couldn't use the Force to deal with Father and be confident of the outcome. Even without it, I still didn't know the extent of his Geass – he could be good and powerful enough to keep me distracted until help could come anyway.

I was left improvising and scrambling in the dark for a solution that would keep my family as safe as possible.

"In truth, Indochina is merely a necessary stepping stone that could place forces in striking distance of some Directorate facilities in Asia." Charles explained. "They would prefer to keep us away – as a precaution if I get back on my deals with them."

"Its us, now?" My eyebrows tried to reach my hair and I had trouble hiding my surprise at this insinuation. At least father was nice enough to explain the purpose of that military adventure. I was left wondering how many of our recent conquests were made as a part of a contingency against this Directorate.

"Certainly. I've seen parts of you past life. Korriban. The Sith Empire you were part of. You know the truth, son." Father sounded far too pleased.

"What truth is that?" I asked warily. There were parts of Veil's past that I would like no one to see. Or was it mine now too? The way the memories were integrating, there were now moments when I had trouble distinguishing the two without thinking about it. The one thing that helped me keep an order in my head was that my memories as li Britannia were fresher, newer than Veils.

"Britannia is corrupted. This whole world is the same!" Father declared and utter conviction rang in his voice.

There's no mistaking it, he was totally convinced this was the truth. I blinked at him, taken aback by the sudden shift of topic.

"The Empire helped shape the world we're living in into what it is. You in fact did make it much, much worse." I pointed out.

"My ideology, you mean." Charles gave me a crooked smile that reminded me of Zash. "Smoke and mirrors son. Smoke and mirrors." The amusement vanished as fast as it appeared. "A grand deception." He spat the word as if it was the worst sin he could think of. "As with any other great deception, mine is based upon a truth. I saw you had a lot of experience with the concept in your previous life. It was your second nature, even if you hated the necessity." Father was too damn pleased in using the memories he violated as arguments.

"Veil was quite good at it." I nodded. "I'm not him. Not yet." I added in a whisper. What was he trying to do anyway? Persuade me to see things his way? To what end?

"You know that people are not equal, son. That conflict is how we evolve. Veil started as nothing, fought, struggled and in the end the only reason why didn't end ruling a whole galaxy was that he didn't want to do the actual job. As an Emperor I can say I sympathize. For all the power I have at my fingertips, its often not worth it given the strings attached. You have the memories of someone who was a living proof of my philosophy." Charles beamed at me.

I glared at the bastard.

"Your feelings betray you, father. You loathe deceit. Yet, you promote it. What did you teach us?" I spat. "That traditional values were lies? That by not murdering, lying or stealing our way to what we want we simply limit ourselves by paying lip-service to lies put in place by the weak to defend themselves?" I sneered. "I've seen an Empire ruled by the strong with no limits on their actions. It tore itself apart the moment there wasn't an outside enemy to unite them. It's the same fate you've practically guaranteed for Britannia. The world hates us, the Areas as they stand couldn't be sustained indefinitely. Sooner rather than later we'll have to either conquer the whole planted or face obliteration. And even in victory..." I frowned. "Unless Britannia changes, we won't be able to hold this whole world. Even a complete military victory can spell our doom and anything less will ensure it."

It was then I saw it in his eyes. Sensed it in through his emotions. Father knew exactly what he was doing. His politics, theories, the course he had charted for the Empire – he knew where it leads. It wasn't a mistake, not a bug, but a feature.

"You understand." Father radiated approval.

"What do you want? To see the world burn?" I snapped. That was the most likely outcome.

"Call it a contingency in case I fail. The world would be plunged into a war Earth has never seen. It will be as close to a clean slate as I could arrange." Charles declared.

Bloody hell. The man was crazy – that was my first thought.

"If you fail..." I repeated. Fail what? I knew I was missing something vital. This conversation, the fragmented memories Veil had of my world, they practically screamed that fact.

"Mankind is a flawed creation. Full of deceit. Of lies and suffering. Its inequality is a fact that brings constant strife and even more suffering." The lecture mode was back at full strength.

"What can change the nature of a man..." I couldn't remember the source of that quote, yet it felt aptly fitting.

"What indeed. I want a future with no lies. No suffering. Where no one has to experience his loved ones be torn away from them. Where no man should bury the one woman he ever loved. A future where humanity is truly equal." Charles declared. "And you'll help me achieve it, my son."

There was smugness in the way father spoke. He knew something I didn't. More importantly, he didn't even try to conceal his goals. He just stated what his plans for the future were and he meant everything he said. There was just the tiny problem that his actions screamed the opposite. A grand deception indeed. He didn't intent to change the world conventionally. He meant to see it burn if his real plans didn't bear fruit. Did he plan to Geass everyone into being better people?

"A world in which Euphemia will be safe. Happy." Father continued.

I gave him a dirty look and he snorted.

"I'll make an educated guess. You want to somehow utilize the power of Geass to change humanity itself." It's the only thing that made sense. Everything else was smoke and mirrors as father put it. Or he had snapped after drinking too much of his own cool aid...

"In a manner of speaking. Your powers combined with Veil's experience and your station as a prince, they offer me some unique opportunities. I know you, my son. I've seen into your soul. You don't want to walk the path of a Sith once again, however you find yourself trapped. You want to be free to chart your own course, don't you? However, by the time you're free of the burdens placed upon you by your birth and they no longer chain you, by the time you've ensured the people who would dare use your family against you are removed, it would be far too late." Charles looked me into the eyes and dared me to refute his words.

I grit my teeth. That was a conclusion I reached just fortnight ago as I meditated and made more of Veil's memories my own. That very act was slowly changing me and I wasn't liking the end product. When he got the Force and the baggage it came with, he had been older, more experienced. While I could understand what he did, why he did it, there was one simple fact about Delkatar Veil, even before he become a proper Sith. He was a monster the likes of which this world has never seen. A monster that Euphie would hate. The biggest irony was that his greatest atrocities were done for a good cause, while fighting for the closest thing there was to the good guys in the fucked up galaxy where he ended.

I could understand his actions – more often than not I would do the same. I could see myself becoming him in order to keep my family safe even if they would loathe me for it.

I didn't want to… even if the Dark Side was freely offering me the power to crush my enemies. Even if I didn't see a way out but to seize it.

"Veil somehow managed to keep himself sane-ish. He was about thirty or so before he had to deal with such madness. That gave him a chance, no matter how slim. By all rights, he should have gone insane." I said.

"Are you sure he didn't? From what I saw, he simply clawed his way back." Father gave me another crooked smile. "He had people who mattered around to keep him sane. People he cared about. So do you. Find yourself a nice, strong girl who can keep you from losing yourself. Marianne did it for me."

"And give you another hostage?" I sneered.

"If I chose such a path, I already have more than enough hostages to chose from. That was my original plan, you know. To use your sisters and mother to keep you in line." Father looked expectantly at me.

"It would have worked up until the moment I grew strong enough. Then I would have seen everything that ever mattered to you taken away before killing you." It was the Sith way and I would have been one and it was still very much in the cards.

"In your ignorance you might have disrupted my plans. Or if you knew the truth – out of spite." Charles nodded.

"Its possible." I inclined my head into a tiny nod of my own.

"Instead, I offer you a deal. Help me bring forth a new world. An equal world, a world free from deceit. In exchange, I'll do everything in my power to keep you family safe." Finally, father came to the point.

"It didn't work out too well for the Empress." I interjected.

"True. I couldn't save her. Oh, I could have prevented that particular assassination attempt. We both knew it was coming and when. The next one? The one after that? The Geass Directorate has vast resources and influence among all three superpowers." Charles sighed. "No small part due to my patronage. Marianne's murder was a message and all I could really do was exile my favourite children in order to protect them."

The only deception I felt was the favourite children part. For a brief moment there was a surge of emotion when he mentioned Lulu and Nunnaly. He both loved and despised them.

"Marianne chose to die in order to protect her children. You hate them for it." I pointed out.

Father glared at me. His anger flared but he was able to wrest it under control.

"I can count the people I've loved on the fingers of a single hand, Delkatar. Marianne was at the top of that short list. She knew my plans, helped me refine them. Before she walked to her death, Marianne asked only two things of me. To see our children safe and to carry on so they could live into a changed, better world." There was a finality to his words.

Father really was going to see the world changed one way or another – either through Geass or burned to the ground.

"I both love and loathe Lelouch and Nunnaly. Marianne chose to protect them instead standing by me to the end. However, I hate the Geass Directorate more than mere words could describe. Unfortunately, they're useful, needed even."

That was true – father's hatred was simply exquisite. The Dark Side stirred around me, fuelled by the emotion I was sensing.

"You'll be wreaking a bloody vengeance before implementing your plan." I deduced.

"That I will. You would do the same in my place. Veil did it when his wife was murdered."

"You saw that too?" I growled. Having those memories in particular was something I could easily live without. Someone else sees them – that was simply infuriating. I struggled to keep my rising fury in check and it was a good thing I succeeded. The unknown power around us grew thicker, more potent in response to my emotions.

I wasn't sure I would survive another confrontation as I was right now. I wouldn't be alive if that power hadn't heeded father's words and stopped trying to crush me earlier.

"I did and it's a good thing. Without seeing it, I might have miscalculated." Father gave me a reassuring smile – another new experience as far as he was concerned. "Once things calm down and if the reports from Area Six are anything to go by it would be soon, I'll be recalling your mother and younger sister back to Pendragon. As far as the world at large is concerned, it would be for their protection after the attack in Buenos Aires." Father felt too damn cheerful for comfort.

It was left without saying that their presence in the capital would help keep me in check.

"The more politically astute would believe that they're in fact called back as hostages for Cornelia's good behaviour. Yours too once you make a name for yourself. I'll make sure that the Directorate draws the correct conclusions as far as you're concerned. You might have to avoid a few assassinations or kidnapping attempts, but if we play our cards well they will be low key enough that you'll manage to beat them." Father continued to lay down his plans for my future.

I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. There was a part of me that wanted to choke the smug bastard on the spot. Another wanted to burn the whole city to the ground just to prove exactly how bad idea was to try using my family against me. However, there was yet another part of me – one that was intrigued by father's plan and wondered if it could work.

"I see." I spoke slowly. "I do want a better world for my sisters. That still leaves the elephant in the room. If your plan fails, which is always a possibility no matter what either of us do, they will be left into a world that's going to tear itself apart." I glared coldly at father.

"True. You're going to be my contingency plan, Delkatar. This is going to be the price you pay for the continued well being of the li Britannia line. One you'll be paying gladly." Father graced me with another smug smile. "If my plan falls, it will be up to you to take this world and reforge it through fire and blood. Not an outcome you would relish - its one that would make Euphemia at the very least hate you. Still, it would be better than the alternative. You're going to lay the groundwork in spite of me acting the utter bastard as usual." Father chuckled in amusement. "If I fail, it will be up to you to pick up the pieces."

I closed my eyes and dove into the Force itself. The power surrounding us trembled, prepared to retaliate, yet it didn't attempt to crush me again. What I wanted to divine was how safe would my family be if I accepted father's alliance. Safe from him, from the Geass Directorate, from the rest of our family.

The future was clouded. The only thing I was sure of was the same thing I knew when I walked in here of my own free will – that doing otherwise would have seen them harmed for sure. There was danger no matter what I chose to do.

I had to admit I was intrigued by father's goal – a peaceful world. It called to me. Veil has been through too much hell. By the end he had spent multiple lifetimes at war. He swore by constant conflict, by the evolution and growth in birthed. However, he paid a terrible price for everything he gained walking that route.

I was left carrying his baggage and as time passed, as I integrated his memories and was becoming more and more similar to that man, there was one inescapable conclusion I reached.

I, Delkatar li Britannia, didn't want to walk his path. I didn't want to live a life full of constant conflict. I was still a teenager, yet I felt old, dreamed of thousand battlefields and all I wanted was a world where I could live in peace.

"I accept. What is the plan? How do you intent to change the nature of humanity?" I opened my eyes and looked calmly at Charles.

Accepting was surprisingly easy. It was a proof I've changed too. The boy I was before Africa would have balked at the idea of changing humanity's very nature, especially without asking them. Robbing the people of this Earth of a choice – it should have been unthinkable. Instead, I didn't really think about them. The only thing I though was what a success would mean and what price I might have to pay.

The man I was today thanks to Veil's memories… He had no problem in sacrificing this humanity's free will if it meant I could live a peaceful life surrounded by the people I cared about. If they ever knew the details, they might hate me. They would hate me if I had to unfuck the utter mess that was Britannia in particular and this Earth in general. I could do it, probably. However, the only way I knew how was through blood and tears. That's why I found it so easy to accept father's offer. It gave me a potential way out.

It was telling that I reached the decision before I heard the details. I had no illusions that it would be easy or bloodless.

"The plan? You'll know when the time is right. As I just proved, your mind is vulnerable to Geass. Revealing my plans to you is a vulnerability none of us can afford. Only two people knew all the details and now Marianne is dead." There was an odd mixture of longing, regret and hope when he mentioned the late Empress. "If the Order suspects what are my real goals, we won't succeed."

"Why do you need them?" I asked. While father's concerns were valid – and infuriating, I loathe working in the dark.

"Up until the end, our goals coincide. What happens when its done, how the world is going to change – that's where our plans differ. I will use them up until then, just as they are using me. Then there will be a reckoning. Until then, their expertise with Geass is invaluable." Father explained.

"You'll need to fill me in about Geass. About a great many things if I'm to be really useful."

"All in due time, son. First we'll have to figure out how to handle the complications caused by you surviving your African escapades."


	4. Chapter 4 V2

**Disclaimer: I don't own either of the Code Geass, Gundam Seed or Star wars franchises. This story is not written with commercial purpose in mind. I make no money from it. It is not for sale or rent.**

 **Chapter 4: Family affairs**

 **=ABKR=**

 **Part 1**

 **25 March 2009 A.T.B.**

 **Imperial Palace**

 **Pendragon**

After the meeting with my father, Bismark escorted me to the suite I would be staying in while in Pendragon. I managed to keep my temper in check until the Knight of One dismissed the pair of servants waiting inside and used the Force to slam the door shut and lock it behind me.

Being outplayed by my father, finding out that there were powers on this world that could be a match for me even with the Force on my side and worst of all, getting my mind violated… I let a wordless roar of frustration. The priceless furniture all around me shattered when my power responded to my emotions and crushed everything in the room into so much kindling. I was painfully aware that despite the Force, enough people who knew what the hell they were doing could stop me. It was a no brainier. It would be anything but easy, a virtual bloodbath once I got most of Veil's powers. That wouldn't change even if it turned out that my body couldn't handle the full scope of a Sith Lord's abilities even if I had the knowledge to utilize them.

However, experiencing the power of a Geass first-hand was an eye opener. I could do something similar to what Charles did to me, at least in theory. I could ravage a person's mind while looking for a specific information, yet doing so wasn't a guaranteed to succeed. It would leave my victim a vegetable, as likely as not before I could get the information I was after.

I could vaguely recall other geas forms from Veil's memories but not only did specifics escape me, I couldn't even be sure who might possess them. It's been simply too long since he had seen or heard anything about the world in which I was born into. The one thing I was reasonable sure about was that each Geass excelled only at one thing.

Yet, while limited to that single trick, that Geass might better in its area than what I could do with the Force. Perhaps not as good as what Veil could do but that was academic. I didn't actually have his skills and finesse with our power. For example the so called Mind Trick was really useful against weak willed beings. Oh, a mind could be overpowered by sheer raw power – usually, however that would leave people mind damaged and thus useless for doing anything complicated or requiring them to act as if nothing was wrong. I suspected that a Geass with similar function would be much better in that one area. Scary even.

I snarled. All the Geass' I could recall of were mental based powers. Could they affect me as father's did? Could the power of the King take my free will away?

Was there physical based Geass that might be at least a match for a direct application of the Force in its area of expertise, like telekinesis?

"FUCK!" I snapped and rubbed my forehead.

I could almost hear Veil whispering in the back of my head. I knew it was just his memories, yet… The thought of being in someone else's power, it made me furious. I knew it was the Sith's influence, because I, Delkatar li Britannia made my peace with that a long time ago. It was part of my lot in life. Unless I got to be the Emperor – something I hadn't even dreamed of until I got Veil's memories, there would always be someone above me on the food chain. That's how things were. All I wanted was to do my best by my family and country. To live in relative peace beside that. Ironically the best way I saw in achieving that was joining the military.

Heh. The irony wasn't lost upon me.

It was no longer acceptable. I had to do more.

 _There's no peace, only passion._

I chuckled mirthlessly and headed for the suite's bathroom, where I got under the shower and let cool water splash over my head.

The Sith in me wanted conflict. Thrived on it.

The young prince wanted a peaceful life.

At least both sides wanted to keep my family safe.

 _Through passion I gain strength._

I made a deal with the devil. One where I didn't know exactly what plan I agreed to support, just that the ultimate outcome appeared to be what I wanted.

It infuriated me nevertheless.

I raised my head so my face could be right under the water.

There would be no peace in my future. Only conflict. The Force stirred at that thought. I could feel how excited the Dark Side was at the prospect.

I hated the idea.

I _love_ d it.

Conquering the whole world – for li Britannia, even with the Empire at my back, it was merely a dream. One hard to imagine fulfilled. For Veil on the other hand – just another day in the office.

One thing I and my memories could agree on was that we were furious at being outmanoeuvred by father. Even if he decided for some reason not to use my family against me, by the time I would have enough support to remove him, I would be left with little choice but to take over the whole bloody planet and pick up the pieces after Charles' stunts. What was my alternative – do my best to kill him and even if I survived the attempt and somehow evaded his contingencies be on the run? Not to mention that doing so would be tantamount to sacrificing my family. If it was just me, I would have much more acceptable options. With mother and my sisters in the equation, my hands were tied. Because in the end I would gladly drown this whole world in blood if it meant that they would be safe – even if they all hated me for it.

Damn it all! If I had to be a monster to keep those precious to me safe, so be it! Sith grow through conflict and there would be enough of it in my future to satisfy even Veil. Then we would see if how father's accursed Geass will fare against me.

 _Through strength I gain power._

I smiled coldly. Father wanted me to be his agent for the time being. I would oblige him. I would gain allies. I would gain all the power I would need to do what I have to. Then there will be a reckoning even if I ultimately went along with his plan.

 _Through power I gain victory._

If that was the only way to protect my family and the Empire the prince in me believed in, then I would take this world and crush anything that stands in my way. No matter if it was the other superpowers, father, other members of our family, the mysterious Geass Directorate or that strange power that stood besides Charles when I met him.

 _Through victory, my chains are broken._

Only then my family and I would truly be free and safe. Even if I had to reforge myself into a Sith Lord, I will see that outcome come through, I vowed.

"Your Highness..." A trembling female voice came from the small corridor connecting the bathroom with the rest of the suite.

I frowned. I've been so self absorbed I didn't sense anyone approach. I stopped the water and shook it from my face.

"What is it?" I grumbled.

"His Highness, Prince Schneizel requests that you dine with him tonight." The woman stuttered.

My brother, the Prime Minister. That's a surprise. I wouldn't call us exactly close, though he was one of the decent members of our family. Before getting Veil's memories, I would have called him a friend. Under their influence I've got more jaded, even more cynical than being raised in Pendragon could account for.

It wasn't like I could afford to say no to his invitation.

"When and where?" I asked.

"Prince Schneizel's residence, Your Highness. Eight o'clock."

"Inform my brother that I will be there unless father has other ideas on how to utilize my time in Pendragon. I'll need proper attire and transport."

"We'll see to it, Your Highness."

 **=ABKR=**

 **Part 2**

 **Thought Elevator**

 **Pendragon**

"This was an unexpected turn of events, Charly." A tiny girl with blank expression on her face spoke cheerfully.

Charles zi Britannia sighed and turned around to look at the child possessed by his late wife.

"You don't know the half of it." The Emperor grumbled.

"Tell me about it." Anya's body leaned forward.

He did. Hours passed in the Thought Elevator while mere minutes dragged in the outside world while Charles told his Empress what he saw in Delkatar's mind. About the conclusions he made based on that information. About the opportunity that just fell in their laps.

"Does he suspect what the plan really is? Is my nephew going to follow through if he knows?" Marianne finally asked.

"I don't know." Charles admitted. "He has suspicions, though I'm reasonable sure that they're off the mark."

"We have some planning to do then." She glared at her husband. "I want him keeping Lelouch and Nunnaly safe."

Charles winced under her crimson tingled stare.

"I'll send him to Japan with the first wave. He would go get them back on his own, you know that, right?"

"I don't care! I want my children safe and he's the best option!" Marianne snapped.

 **=ABKR=**

 **25 March 2009 A.T.B.**

 **Dining room**

 **Schneizel's residence**

 **Pendragon**

Damocles Castle. That's what people often called Schneizel's lurking hole in the capital. Thanks to the Roman influence in its architecture, the name made a tiny bit of sense. Well a lot compared to those given to the homes of some siblings I could name.

The place was quite impressive. If I hadn't grown up as a prince, I'm pretty sure I would find it stunning. Instead, all I could think as I walked through the palace's large and well lit corridors was that it took forever to get anywhere. A guide too, because despite my semi-frequent visits in the past I was sure I would get lost without the servant leading me towards the dining room.

What was that phrase? Familiarity breeds contempt? I found it fitting. Passing by dozens of ancient statues and carefully preserved portraits that would have made any self respecting museum curator cream their pants at the thought of exhibiting them, my only thought was weren't we there yet, damn it?!

The servant threw a pair of thick oaken doors open and gave me a deep bow before biding me to enter.

"Brother! It's great to see you in one piece!" Schneizel exclaimed and walked briskly to meet me.

He hadn't really changed since the last time I saw him – a couple of weeks before everything went to hell. My brother wore a royal purple suit with a cut that made him appear even taller than he actually was – an overkill considering that no one could ever accuse him of being short.

Schneizel moved away a strand of his silky blond hair and leaned to get a better look at me.

"You're in one piece, right?" My brother asked. There was concern ringing in his voice which was mirrored by the whirlpool of emotions I could sense coming from him.

There was relief, happiness and a lot of cold-blooded calculation. It was enough to move him quite bit down the list of suspected siblings who buggered my family.

"More or less." I shrugged. "I got out in one piece after meeting father and that's always a good thing."

"Yes, I heard he summoned you quite abruptly. How are Cornelia and Euphemia? What about Lady Amelia?"

"We were ambushed on the way back from the airport." I couldn't keep the snarl out of my voice. "Getting back to Cornelia's army got a bit hairy."

"They're all right?" Schneizel asked concerned.

"Just shaken." I reassured him.

"Good." He gave me a firm nod and squeezed my shoulder in a relieved manner. "They never should have been sent in a potential war zone."

"No. We should have known what a ticking time-bomb that part of Area Six was too." I grumbled.

"I was told that OSI dropped the ball on that one." Schneizel frowned. "I'll be looking into how it happened."

"The people on the ground were told that the situation was being handled by their superiors in Pendragon. That they should forward any information about suspicious activity to command and forget about it."

"Bloody Hel!" Schneizel snapped, obviously startling by my revelation. This was the first time I heard him curse. My brother frowned, shook his head and waved towards the table. "Come on, sit. I think this is going to be much longer conversation that I anticipated. Much less pleasant too."

Unfortunately I couldn't disagree.

Only now I paid attention to the room we were in. It wasn't one of the pair of large dining rooms that could comfortably seat hundreds of people. Instead, we were in a tastefully decorated study which had a set up dining table in one corner. There were tall bookshelves covering most walls, here and there broken by ebony wall panels where various portraits hung. A couple of Roman statues could be seen and one I was pretty sure was actually Greek. My lips twitched at that thought. My tutors would be apailed to learn that I couldn't be sure with merely a glance.

When we were sitting on the table I was engulfed by the scent of a hot tomato soup – one of Schneizel's favourites, though not something I particularly enjoyed. He's been trying to get me to like that bloody thing for years now and every time he hosted a meal where I was present, there always was tomato soup waiting for me.

"You're not giving up, I see."

"Of course not, little brother." Schneizel chuckled. "Now be a good little rascal and eat your vegetables."

I sighed in a mock resignation and took a spoon.

"How secure is this room?" I cut to the chase.

Schneizel raised an eyebrow at my inquiry. "It was swept after the table was set. We're deep within the palace and the nearby rooms are secured and sealed."

"Good. As you can guess, I had quite an interesting conversation with father."

"Really? Lately he has been quite distant. I've got the feeling that he cares less and less about the running of the Empire." Schneizel said and began eating his soup – an act that brought a content smile on his face.

"He made me an offer I couldn't refuse. One that concerns you considering you're the Chancellor." I said and finally tried the soup. It was edible and that's the best I could say about it. It was weird that I could barely tolerate tomato soup yet so far I loved practically every other way that vegetable could be cooked that I've tasted.

"I'm having the sinking feeling that my life is going to get more interesting. In the Chinese meaning of the word." Schneizel quipped.

"I can guarantee it. Father wants me to conquer as much of the world for him as he deems appropriate or else."

My brother put down his spoon and began massaging the bridge of his nose. "Any inkling on how much he has in mind at this time?"

"The troubles in the far east for sure. I'm certain that he'll want Japan sooner than later given what they're sitting on." I sighed. "In the long run he probably wants the whole planet delivered to him gift-wrapped and on a silver platter. Europe and the old homeland for sure."

Well, that got my brother's attention for certain. There was sheer incredulity in there, a lot of disbelief that was quickly giving ground to resignation – after all I didn't say a single thing that would be out of character for father to desire. I could briefly sense a bright flare of anger that was fortunately not aimed my way and then Schneizel got his emotions under control. The primary thing coming from him now was a large amount of displeasure that from time to time morphed into a cold streak of anger and back again.

Experiencing Schneizel's emotions first hand was a curious and worrying thing. I needed a much better read on his character than I got before my African adventure. One thing was certain – I couldn't afford to underestimate him.

"He has to be aware of our current situation..." Schneizel grumbled. "He is, right?"

"I think so. In his mind our current far east troubles are at least partially my fault so my first task will be to solve them." I added and glanced at my soup wondering if I could set it aside without irritating Schneizel.

Nah.

"How did he got to that conclusion?" Schneizel asked and didn't bother to hide his surprise. I could almost see gears turning in his head as he tried to figure out father's train of thought.

"I didn't die in Africa. Whoever was behind after that debacle is likely the same party who has its grubby fingers in OSI's affairs and father believes that it was them who let the situation in Area Six goes to Hel in order to either directly remove my branch of the family or discredit us even further." I explained.

"Plausible." Schneizel nodded. "Still it doesn't make any of that your fault in any shape or form."

"I don't think father particularly cares." I smiled mirthlessly. "You would know better how that mess affects us on the international scene."

Schneizel closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair.

"The EU and the Chinese perceive a weakness. An opportunity." My brother began thinking aloud. "South Africa is in negotiations with Brussels and the Middle Eastern Federation is engaged modernizing their armed forces with European assistance." Schneizel opened his eyes and gave me an exasperated look. "Southern Indochina... We've got basing agreements over there since the first Pacific war and we used them as a springboard for invading the Kingdom of Burma. I've heard whispers that the Chinese might back our Japanese friends in making the whole Gulf of Thailand and big parts of the South China Sea a demilitarized zone." Schneizel smiled thinly. "As far as our armed forces are concerned anyway. The locals in North Indochina are going to be the last French colony to receive independence and the date is set for two weeks from now. They don't particularly like our bases which are conveniently near Saigon."

"I'll make a wild guess – the Indochinese are afraid that we may come at the moment the Euros pull back." I knew my military history. We gobbled a lot of territory during the decolonization era, especially since father got his backside on the throne. The only reason at least half of Africa wasn't our right now was the determination of the Euros to keep us out, which was backed by their combined fleet.

"They're. The Chinese are apprehensive as well. They have been giving a lot of material support to their Burmese clients and I'm afraid they're considering a direct intervention. If the EU jump in too over concerns about the French colony, we'll be in deep trouble." Schneizel explained.

"If we have to fight there, it will be on the end of a long and vulnerable supply line." I reasoned out. If our Pacific fleet found itself unable to keep the sea-lines open, our people in the region could be left to die out on the vine. There would be no real reason for the enemy to attack them. Just starve them out.

"You get a cookie." Schneizel gave me a tired smile.

"Chocolate chip one?"

"Probably. There's chocolate cake for desert at any rate."

"Good. Can you do anything to keep our European and Chinese friends out of Indochina?" I asked.

"Brussels might be deterred by a successful show of force in that theatre. They'll have to operate over long supply lines too and they won't trust the Chinese not to stab them in the back in given a good enough incentive. The Federation however..." My brother frowned. "There's no possible miracle I can work on the diplomatic front that will keep them from sticking their fingers in Indochina. Burma is their client and a very useful buffer. One of their primary strategic goals is to keep us as far away as possible from their borders. Our bases in the area have been a sore point ever since we got them in the first place. If we get to keep Northern Indochina, the Chinese are likely to perceive it as a prelude to an invasion or something. If we actually conquer the whole of Burma or look like we might, I guarantee they will marshal a few armies in to keep us away."

"We're really in no state to invade the Federation." I pointed out. "Unless there are at least fifty or sixty divisions I'm not aware of."

"We'll need more just to secure that much territory, not to mention the forces needed to keep a lid on the Areas, those necessary to keep the Euros honest..."

"And suddenly there are no combat formations to face the Chinese and their buddies. The math simply doesn't work." I agreed. "I'm pretty sure that father will be sending me to Indochina in the next couple of weeks. He wants me to force both the Euros and the Chinese to back down so we can concentrate on the prize."

"Delkatar, you know that I'm not a man to say that something is impossible, right?" Schneizel asked.

"I'm hearing a 'however' somewhere in there."

"However." My brother chuckled. "Eat your soup before it becomes cold."

"Har, har." I grumbled and swallowed another spoonful of soup.

After the soup was gone and the main course was served – beef stake with mashed potatoes, we were back to discussing the mess father steered us all in.

"Once this situation is resolved, there will be another and another." Schneizel concluded.

"Europa United and the Chinese Federation will object on being conquered. The smaller countries we'll need to take out to secure our flanks won't stand down just because we ask nicely either." I noted.

"I think not." Schneizel grimaced. "Yet unless we convince father to chart another course we'll be in trouble."

"He sounded determined. At least I hope you'll be able to persuade father to think in realistic time-frames if nothing else."

"What about you?"

"For the time being my hands are tied. Cornelia and I succeed in whatever tasks we're given or mother and Euphie pay the price."

Schneizel winced. "I feared that might be the case." He frowned. "Almost expected it even, yet hearing it put so bluntly..." My brother shook his head. He put his utensils on the table and looked me in the eyes. "Father won't reign forever."

I could feel the apprehension coming from Schneizel. There was a lot of determination in there, a lot of hope and a great pit of fear. Was he afraid that I might betray him? Or was it fear of what he would have to do if I declined the offer I was sure would be coming soon?

"I certainly hope not." I stated blandly.

Schneizel's fear was doused by my answer and his hopes soared.

Damn it, this emphatic sense coming with the Force was ridiculously useful.

"It's obvious that you want to say something, brother. Speak plainly."

"I'm certain you would prefer someone on the throne who wouldn't use our family as chains that bind us." Schneizel said carefully.

"Someone like you per chance?" I asked.

"Well, technically I'm the third in the succession." Schneizel pointed out.

Just behind Odysseus and Guinevere.

Technically was the operative word. While my eldest brother was supposedly the heir presumptive to the throne, that simple fluke of birth really meant nothing. Not with our father around.

"You might be the first by the time father finishes testing us and even that won't guarantee a thing." I pointed out.

"No." Schneizel agreed. "With your and Cornelia's support on the other hand, the odds would be much better. Even if father ultimately chooses someone else to succeed him." Translation – if that happens we either arrange an assassination or just an old fashioned coup.

"While I can't speak for Cornelia at this time, I can agree that you would make a better Emperor than most of our siblings." I said.

"Even you?" Schneizel began fishing.

"Certainly. I would hate to do your job. I'll be having nobles and bureaucrats shot in job lots in a couple of weeks – if my patience lasts that long." I shrugged and told him the truth.

Schneizel studied me for what felt like an eternity, while I was engaged examining his emotions.

There was some mistrust, a lot of fear that was evening out and quite a bit of relief. It was the last emotion that was winning out, which was good. Schneizel wasn't the only one who was afraid that he might be forced to do something regrettable. Ever since I arrived at the palace I kept my emotions heavily subdued. This wasn't the time or place to let them run unchecked.

Yet, even using every single mental technique Veil ever learned, I could no longer suppress the relief raging in my heart.

"You actually believe that." Relief and surprise were plain in his tone when he concluded I might be telling the truth.

"Yep. Putting my posterior on the throne when the time of the succession comes isn't something I want to do. It's just that the most alternatives are going to be hazardous for my continued existence. I can tell you for certain that Cornelia doesn't want the job either. She's happy as hell being a general."

"I'm relieved to hear that." Schneizel smiled. "You know, no matter what happens, I'll do my best to protect Euphemia and your mother, right?"

Curious. Going by his emotions, he was reasonably certain that I didn't want the throne. Likely more than enough not to try removing me without a very good reason. On the other hand he had his doubts about Cornelia, which was problematic. If he decided that she has to go, I would be right beside her because there was no chance in hell my brother would believe that I wouldn't be gunning for whoever dared harm one of my full blood sisters.

At least he was convinced in the truth of his last sentence, something that put him heads and shoulders above all but a handful of my other siblings.

I raised my wineglass. "To our alliance then. Let it be successful."

Schneizel mirrored my gesture and took a sip from his glass.

"How long are you going to be in Pendragon?" My brother asked.

"At least a few days. Father ordered me to familiarize myself with the political and military situation so I'll be going over a lot of intelligence reports and sitting at various briefings. Once I'm familiar with the situation, then things are going to get… interesting." I frowned. Likely not in a way I would enjoy.

"You do that. I hope you'll see something I and my people have missed." Schneizel added.

"I doubt it. Unless you've got a fleet or two stashed somewhere?" I chuckled.

"Does my model collection count?" Schneizel quipped.

"We have to avoid a confrontation with both the EU and Chinese. Even taking on one of them at this time is going to be unpleasant." I muttered.

"Quite. We're stretched somewhat thin, especially in naval terms. We aren't in a position to take on both blocks at this time."

"Say what you want about father, however he's right about this situation." I reluctantly admitted.

Schneizel gave me a dark look then nodded. "We need to force them to back off. And it has to be military – I don't have good enough leverage to use diplomatically. The Chinese deem our presence in Indochina a strategic threat and that trumps most usual concerns."

"Troublesome logistics – we can't really field large forces in Indochina even if doing so wouldn't be seen as an escalation that would make damn sure the Chinese would fight it out." I grumbled. "We might be blockaded, cutting off additional supplies and reinforcements..." I trailed off.

"Yet, we're forced to look at a military solution."

"A relatively small mobile unit hitting high above its weight." I mused. "Schneizel, how much truth is there about the militarization of the Mobile Frames? Have there been any tests in terrain similar to that in Indochina? What's their logistics footprint?" I shot a barrage of questions at my brother.

Schneizel looked thoughtful for a few seconds.

"Yes to the first. There's a battalion worth of frames being tested as we speak. They supposedly show promise, however I've had no time to go and see for myself how much of that's actually true and how much is hot air from people who are going to soon beg for more funds while promising everything we want to hear."

"Good to know that some things never change." I shook my head in amusement.

"I have no idea on what terrain those units were tested so far. As far as logistics go…" Schneizel shrugged. "It's a new weapon system. No matter what is promised, things won't work as advertised until the initial teething problems are solved and at best that would increase the need for spare parts. On the other hand I remember that the promised production models are meant to weight somewhere between eight and nine tons. Even when you take an in-ordinary need for spare parts, you could still have multiple units with the same footprint as a single MBT… and we all know how tanks usually fare in that terrain."

Yeah. That was extensively covered in our military history classes – any kind of tank with half-decent armor was too heavy to properly work any real distance from the roads in that part of the world. As often as not, there were trouble on the roads themselves. Tanks tended to partially sink and get stuck in the soft and wet soil in the region. Hopefully that problem was at least partially solved nowadays – another thing to check. Then there were the Frames – would they have lesser ground pressure than our tanks? Even if that was the case, would it be small enough not to get them bogged down?

"I have the nagging feeling I might be grasping at straws. Even if the Frames turn out to be as good as advertised, I doubt that there would be enough of them to make a difference in the time we have before the situation blows up in our faces..." I sighed.

"Handling the situation conventionally..." Schneizel paused. "Not good odds brother."

"It's not like I'm given the option to refuse."

"No. I'll call what favours I can and try to buy you as much time as possible. Beside that..." Schneizel shrugged.

"You mentioned something about a cake?" I asked after a few minutes of morose silence.

"Chocolate one." Schneizel nodded.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I don't own either of the Code Geass, Gundam Seed or Star wars franchises. This story is not written with commercial purpose in mind. I make no money from it. It is not for sale or rent.**

 **Chapter 5: The 501st**

 **=ABKR=**

 **Part 1**

 **26 March 2009 A.T.B.**

 **The Octagon**

 **Pendragon**

The building containing the biggest concentration of brass on square meter in Britannia was named over its odd octagonal shape. It was built in the rough form of concentrating rings with those nearer the centre and deeper underground being correspondingly more and more important. The place boosted some very good security – both technological and manpower wise. Even with my unusual abilities actually infiltrating the place if the fancy ever struck me would be a pain. The building was built like the demented child of a maze and death-trap filled fortress of doom, which now that I knew for sure there were other peoples with powers on this Earth suddenly made quite a lot of sense. Of course then there was the institutional paranoia of our military and intelligence agencies too, which when I thought about it was a decent enough explanation by itself.

While all the above was great for foiling foreign agents, it was also a paint in the ass to deal with at the best of times, not to mention that the enemies I had to fear were much closer to home. They wouldn't need to infiltrate the Octagon if they desired information about what I was doing – most of them were likely to either have the necessary access or friends with it who they could innocently ask for the information.

Those were concerns I had to keep in mind while I was slowly making my way to the eight ring where I would be allowed to see all intelligence on Indochina we got along with a list of assets I might draw upon to dissuade the locals from kicking us out of the region.

To my surprise I found a familiar face waiting with me in front of the secure room where I would be reviewing the Intel. My aide Viletta Nu stood at parade rest next to the door flanked by s pair of troopers who were trying very hard not to look like they would be anywhere but near her. The fact that she outranked the corporals and her not-so sunny disposition might have had something to do with it. Or perhaps it was the Royal crest added to her uniform announcing her position as someone who directly serves the Royal family.

"Lieutenant Nu." I nodded. "I trust all the data I requested is ready for review?" I asked showing no surprise at her presence.

"Everything is in order, Your Highness." Viletta stood at attention.

"Good. Thank you both, you're dismissed." I told the soldiers who gave me a parade sharp salutes and made themselves scarce.

Yet another biometric lock later and we were in a small 'dark' room protected against always of remote observation known to man. The only things inside were a plain metal table, a few chairs that looked like they might be not too uncomfortable if you squint a lot and a computer which lacked the hardware to connect to any kind of network. There was a sealed metal case on the table which presumably contained all the data I needed.

I used the Force to make sure any hidden recording devices would get only static and turned to look at my aide.

"Viletta, its surprising to see you here. Who ordered you in?" I asked.

"General li Britannia once it became clear you won't be coming back any time soon, sir. I am supposed to be your aide." Nu reminded me. It sounded like the truth, though it didn't explain her barely contained anger.

"You can speak. I already secured the room."

"Until an hour ago I thought I was recalled for my own execution, Your Highness." Viletta spat.

"Ah. That sounds like some of my relatives." I nodded in understanding. "Well, we won't be getting shot at dawn."

"Dawn passed two hours ago. Will we get shot at noon?"

Obviously my brand of humour was lost on Viletta.

"In couple of weeks. A month if I could swing it. What do you know about Indochina?" I inquired.

"It's technically part of the Chinese Federation aligned Kingdom of Burma but is in fact a French colony – the last one in the pacific. We've got bases along the coast ever since the Pacific War. If the news and scuttlebutt are right, the locals want us out. We've been in war with Burma for the last few months which complicates the situation." Viletta recited.

"Officially we launched an invasion in order to secure our naval facilities from enemy artillery range." At least that was the tune of the Foreign Ministry according to my older brother. Unofficially we were testing the waters in preparation for an inevitable invasion of Japan and securing our positions in the region for that exercise. Father wanted Indochina along with most of Burma, which meant I had to figure out how to win a land war in Asia.

"That's our problem how?" Viletta asked.

"Guess who needs to fix that particular FUBAR." My response took her aback.

I entered my code, put my thumb on the electronic reader to get my fingerprint scanned and the case popped open revealing a lot of neatly stacked CDs which were all helpfully labelled.

"We and what army?" Nu eventually stopped spluttering.

"A very good question. Let's first find out what exactly do we have to deal with." I browsed the CDs for the appropriate one – ah there it was - 'Intelligence analysis of the threats in the Indochina AO'.

It took us a few hours to figure out exactly how fucked we were. The Kingdom of Burma had a reasonably large military, which was optimized for fighting in the jungles which made a lot of their territory. They had a lot of decent airframes' courtesy of the Chinese, who along the Euros were engaged funnelling support – both volunteers and material. The initial offensives had seen some gains but was by now hopelessly bogged down. The enemy could reinforce much faster and easier than us and Japan backed by the other two superpowers were making noises about locking our navy out of the region, which would see not only all of our bases there but the people and material fall sooner rather than later. Getting powerful enough formations on the ground in Indochina to matter would be seen as escalation which might lead to a direct Chinese intervention. If that happened the Japanese were likely to go on with their threat and lock down the area.

In theory Britannia was big enough that a blockade in that region won't be particularly painful. After all we were more than self-sufficient when all was said and done. However, such an act would cut off our bases in the area and more importantly, there was Japan – the world's biggest exporter of Sakuradite. Along with their Chinese acquaintance they might try locking our military shipping out of the region or worse, either impose an embargo or simply refuse to sell us that precious resource. The consequences might very well spiral out of control into a world war, one we were unlikely to win at this time.

The one thing we weren't self-sufficient about was the Sakuradite. We couldn't be with Japan possessing roughly about seventy percent of the world's accessible deposits.

"Your Highness, what are we exactly meant to do here?" Viletta asked the obvious question. "I don't see a reasonable military solution. We need to reinforce our people on the ground – heavily or we might as well write them off. However, we don't dare send enough people and material."

"Correct." I agreed and wondered what would have happened in that other timeline where I died in Africa.

The events in Buenos Aires didn't happen there I assumed. In turn Britannia didn't have its current aura of vulnerability and European and Japanese response would have been much more cautious. That might have allowed for properly reinforcing Indochina and eking out a victory there before the rest of the kids in the neighbourhood got the nerve to oppose us. It was all conjecture but it fit. The Japanese would have threatened to cut off our troops in Asia along with decreasing the Sakuradite they would sell us or even outright embargo us to pressure us – which was what they were doing right now.

"Saying that up the chain of command won't be a good idea I take it?" Nu wanted to know.

"They're aware. Nevertheless, I'm to find a way and implement it in the next couple of weeks. We need to be in Indochina in a month on the outside." I confirmed.

"I'm suddenly reconsidering about that firing squad I feared in the morning."

"Don't worry. We're going to cheat. There isn't a conventional solution unless getting in there with airborne light troops and hoping for the best is something you want to do?"

"Not particularly. Cheat how?"

"I need to make a few calls and I'll tell you."

 **=ABKR=**

Few hours and a lot of conversations with various people later, I had scheduled a meeting with both father and Schneizel for late in the evening. Meanwhile, I was about to meet one of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Britannian military.

General Joan Fontaine was the Commandant of the Marine Corps and currently the rotating chairman of the joint Chiefs. That meant he spent most of his time in Pendragon and would continue to do so for two more months before he was replaced by the representative of the navy.

Fontaine was in his mid fifties and a veteran from the Pacific War. He was credited with reforging our Marines in the best in the world thanks to the hard lessons he learned while participating in multiple bloody island assaults. Thanks to Cornelia I knew that he had a deserved no nonsense reputation. He was notable for being one of the few non-peers who managed to rise up to the highest level of our military and rumour had it that he had no patience for the usual court shenanigans.

On the face of it, Fontaine sounded like my kind of man.

His office was in the inner and most secure ring of the octagon. As befitting his rank, the place was large and tastefully decorated – you might even mistake it for the cabinet of powerful and wealthy noble. However, it was immediately obvious that the commandant had put his own touch. There were many pictures of him with the units he served with, framed news clipping about battles he participated in as well as obituaries I presumed to be of friends he served with. This certainly wasn't the usual wall of glory some officers tended to put at their working space.

"Commandant Fontaine, sir!" I stood at attention and saluted.

"Your highness." He got up from behind his desk and returned a crisp salute.

I used the opportunity to examine the man. My first impression was underwhelming. Fontaine was a short, yet thickly build man. His once large muscles were slowly turning into fat but I don't think that was because he was no longer taking care of himself. It was probably just age finally catching up to him.

His face still showed trace of his noble French ancestry – the Fontaine family was one of those who managed to escape France during their revolution and later had to run a second time when Napoleon launched his invasion of the British Isles... something I still was unsure how the hell succeeded in driving our ancestors out. Perhaps the Geass father said he possessed had something to do with it. It had to be a doozy because I never could wrap my head over the logistics of Napoleon's invasion across the channel.

Fontaine probably knew more but this wasn't the time for such a conversation.

"What can I do for you, your highness?" The commandant politely inquired.

"I've been given a task by the Emperor, sir."

"I see." Fontaine frowned. "No. I don't. Not yet. Please get seated and tell me what you can." He pointed at one of the two chairs placed before his desk.

I nodded in thanks and made myself comfortable.

"My orders are to resolve the situation in Indochina to the benefit of the Empire. After consulting with the Chancellor it became clear that a diplomatic resolution is out of the question. Our presence on the peninsula is deemed a strategic threat to the Chinese Federation that overrules the usual concerns." I began.

"That is correct. Our military positions in the region are tenuous at this time." Fontaine spoke in a calm tone utterly devout of any feeling.

"That's my understanding as well after reviewing our intelligence about the current situation. Am I correct in assuming that shipping in sufficiently large force to win is that conflict is undesirable for many reasons?" I decided to be blunt.

"Both military and political. What we have in the area is perceived to be a threat by the Chinese. They've been increasing the rate of shipping material and volunteers to their puppets lately. If we bring enough forces to subdue Burma we'll certainly face the Federation's own armed forces in open battle. If that happens the situation will spin totally out of control." Fontaine intoned.

"It's as I feared. Commandant, what level of reinforcements you deem insufficiently threatening to deem an immediate open Chinese intervention?" I asked.

Fontaine pursed his lips and his eyes focused on something distant.

"Perhaps another marine division or an airborne regiment or two. No more. Certainly no more armoured forces." He finally said.

"Such units won't be enough to make a difference I take it?"

"Given the terrain and what the enemy has we'll need multiple divisions to make a difference. More air-power too. Either a few wings of fingers or bombers or at least another carrier battle group. Sending them would further escalate the situation, which according to the Chancellor is undesirable. Are you here to tell me differently, your Highness?" Only now emotion entered his voice and he wasn't happy.

"No. The Emperor wants me to resolve the conflict with minimal reinforcements."

"That's a tall order, your Highness. Our commanders in the region have been trying to do precisely that over the last month without success. They're some of the best we have, however they can't do miracles with the support we're allowed to give them."

"It is as I feared then. What marine and airborne troops are available for deployment by the middle of the next month? They will have to be on the ground at the end of April on the outside. No more than a division when combined."

"101st and 82nd Airborne. I have a marine regiment at the Philippines ready to go and a new division which is finishing its training at Fort Nelson."

"I'll take that regiment and certain airborne units once I've finalized my plan. I trust you'll cut the necessary orders, sir."

A brief look of amusement flashed over his face and then it was once again a professional dispassionate mask.

"You intend to succeed where more experienced officers have hit a brick wall." His tone was quite amused too.

"I wasn't given the opportunity of failing, nor declining my orders, sir. I do intent to cheat as much as possible." Now it was my turn to show a bit of amusement.

"Well, you have the right idea then. This problem doesn't have a conventional solution unless we want to risk a general war with the Federation. Tell me your plan, your highness."

"I will once I've formulated it. Right now I'm making sure I have enough data to do so including knowledge about what assets I can take with me."

"Prudent."

"How would you solve this little challenge if you were the one on the ground, sir?"

"By cheating." Fontaine threw my words back at me.

 **=ABKR=**

 **29 March 2009 A.T.B.**

 **SDSGD /Special Dispatch Guidance System Division/ Sakuradite research facility**

 **Arizona Desert**

 **Britannia**

Two days were wasted before I could convince father to give me free rein over one of Britannia's première R&D facilities complete with the personnel. It took a lot of convincing and promises I hoped I would be able to back in a reasonable amount of time. Yet, here we were – deep within a large air-conditioned hangar in the middle of the desert.

I ended up appropriating ten of the best engineers in the complex as minions while I got Viletta in charge of getting us everything and anything we needed. Only then I could get properly to work.

That said, an important part of the job got done on my way to the facility when I went over everything known about Sakuradite. In a nutshell – that material was bullshit and it was going to be the one thing which might mike my wild plans for Indochina feasible. On the face of it, the element was a room temperature super-conductor, which by itself was a great boon. However, it was so much more as well – depending on how it was refined and utilized it could be a very good power source or the main building block for batteries with energy density which would otherwise be impossible for a century or longer.

The reason why we were here in the first place was creating some power multipliers. Given the restrains we were operating under, both logistics, time and political, the troops I decided to lead to Indochina were one of our three airborne regiments. However, by themselves they simply lacked the punch and staying power to get the job done. Even liberally using my abilities in combat would likely not be a big enough power multiplier to get the job done.

Given this world's overall technology level, a mere month, more like it two to three weeks, simply weren't enough to make a big impact even with Veil's memoires. If the man hadn't spent decades studying engineering and science theorise in his spare time to be used in case he once again ended up in another world, I would be wasting my time at this facility. Instead, I had a few ideas that might be feasible, but only thanks to the existence of Sakuradite and the Sith Alchemy that was going to help.

Designing, building and training people to use brand new weaponry in the time allowed was no only infeasible, but ludicrous. Fortunately, that wasn't really needed. After all I wasn't going to build a brand new weapon system – merely a new warheads for our cruise missiles. They would necessary be hand crafted, crude and not particularly powerful, depending on where you were coming from anyway. Getting something more or less conventional in a single kiloton range was going to be quite useful in order to eliminate any large enemy formations we might run into; vital even.

The reason I commandeered this research site wasn't just because it contained a lot of useful equipment, though that was a major point in its factor. The personnel working at the site was something I deemed even more important. This facility was under the charge of one Dr. Erhard Schwartz and his engineering team who were already working on further weaponising Sakuradite. It was thanks to their efforts that I found proposals for viable rail gun and basic particle beam weapons submitted to the brass for review with attached requests for further funding and Sakuradite allocation.

The good doctor cut a stereotypical, for the Empire at least, image of a scientist more interested in his newest fancy than the real world. From his dishelved lab coat to receding reedy greying hair and thick framed glasses. It turned out that Erhard found it fun to play up to the stereotype when someone new came to visit his lab, though besides that he and his team were very helpful even if not quite thrilled by my presence. A mandate from the Emperor on top of my status as a prince tends to have such an effect on people.

On the other hand...

"This shouldn't work..." Schwartz grumbled.

I shrugged and continued examining the concoction we were playing with. It was a litre of liquid Sakuradite mixed with termite and few other more arcane additives.

"That large hole back on the range tends to disagree, doctor." Liz Neils, Erhard assistant pipped up from behind us. She was a little redhead which contained so much energy in her tiny frame that if we could harness it could power Pendragon for at least a decade.

"You're quite right, doctor. There's a reason why this place is now under direct imperial mandate. Has everyone signed all necessary forms and aware of the consequences if they open their mouths?" I asked.

Erhard frowned but nodded.

"I can't wait. This promises to be quite interesting!" Liz pipped up from the peanut gallery.

I snorted at that thought. Technically she was half a decade older than me, yet all the memories cramped in my head made me feel much older.

"You're aware of my time in captivity in Africa? While there I stumbled on an... artefact." I began with the cover story I agreed with father. Sooner or later my abilities, not to mention a lot of technical knowledge that I should in no way know would come to light so we had to find a way to explain them in a way more believable than the truth. One that doesn't mention Geass and anything related to it. That's why we stopped on something even more outlandish, though ironically it was something that Veil himself could have cooked up if he existed in this universe.

"That is significant, I take it?" Erhard perked up.

"It was a repository of knowledge... An imprint of the mind of someone from quite far away."

"What are we talking about? Some ancient civilization which could use Sakuradite better than us?" Schwartz frowned.

"There're those strange ruins uncovered in New York, London and Japan..." Liz pointed out. "All indications are of a quite advanced civilization if their architecture is anything to go by!" She explained excitedly. "Those ruins are thousands of years old yet there's barely any visible degradation!"

"I don't know if that artefact is from the same source, though I have my doubts." I shrugged. "What I know is that it contained a lot of technical knowledge which I now possess. Most of it is more advanced than what we have today. That's one of the primary reasons why I asked the Emperor for your assistance."

"Considering our speciality I take it at least some of that information is about weapon research... While I find your insinuations hard to believe, your Highness, what you do with the Sakuradite should not be possible." Schwartz frowned.

"That's just the tip of the iceberg, doctor. While I have orders that would take me outside of the country soon, I intend to give you and your people some... homework." My lips twitched. "When we've succeeded in our current task that is."

"What homework?" Liz pouted. "I hoped I saw the last of that once I got out of the university!"

"We're going to build a fusion reactor."

"Fusion?" Erhard's eyes widened. "Nuclear fission is just theoretical at the moment, much less fusion!"

"Not once we're done. Now let's go test the new brew." I nodded at the Sakuradite we were gathered around.

I was glad that father gave us nearly an unlimited budged, because we were going through copious amount of hideously expensive highly refined Sakuradite and that stuff was in a short supply.

 **=ABKR=**

 **4 April 2009 A.T.B.**

 **Groom Lake R &D facility**

 **Province of Nevada**

 **Britannia**

The first attempt of combining Veil's know how with Britannian engineering turned out to be a good enough success. Sith Alchemy helped a lot, though for the time being it was vital for stabilizing liquid Sakuradite into a useful explosive. Creating a proper warhead for the resulting witches' brew was much harder. For the time being I left that job to Dr. Schwartz and company while I went to Nevada. The reason for that trip was simple – it was here, at Groom Lake, where the first Knightmare battalion was stationed.

That's why I was in an observation bunker overlooking a firing range where currently a platoon of RPI-11 Glasgows were engaged in shredding their targets. Beside me stood brigadier Howard King, the man in charge of the First Mech Battalion. His current job was to oversee the training of his command and figure out a proper doctrine for the use of the new weapons. King was a short black haired man who had sharp piercing gaze which seldom missed anything. He came from the armor branch of our military, which it was believed could be supplemented by the Knightmares.

A gust of hot wind blew a lot of dust and smoke from the range in our bunker, making the scorching heat inside even worse and it was just April. I hoped I wouldn't have to visit this place in the middle of the summer. Or any other desert for that matter. At least there was no place on Earth as bad as Tatooine and some other desert worlds Veil had been to.

"Brigadier, what can you tell me about the Glasgows?" I inquired.

"They have potential, a big one I reckon, however there're drawbacks as well." King rumbled with surprisingly deep and loud voice considering his small frame. "As you can see, the Knightmares are very fast and agile." He nodded to the range where some mechs were practically dancing around mock-ups of tanks.

"This kind of performance is amazing." I nodded in agreement. "How do we achieve it and what's the price for it?"

"Those are the correct questions, your Highness." The brigadier gave me a small nod. "It's thanks to the superconducting properties of Sakuradite the Knightmares are possible in the first place." This – he pointed at the range, "requires specially build motors which simply can't exist given our current tech base without that element. The same goes for not only powering them but reinforcing the joints where the stress is highest. An alloy of carbon steel, titanium and Sakuradite is the only thing making that possible too."

"I see. If we're to field Knightmares in any numbers our consumption will sky-rocket."

"True. As you know, sire, we use Sakuradite in many vital industries – from electronics to power generations, metallurgy and engine construction."

Which was why an embargo by Japan would be crippling and another reason why even without their current shenanigans we were likely to invade them anyway in the next few years.

"I have the sneaking suspicion that there're more 'good' news." I looked expectantly at King.

"Logistics. Each one of those machines is a hangar queen. It's the price for such performance from bipedal mechs. Price too, even before factoring the Sakuradite itself. They're very hard to pilot too. I had to scour through all our armor forces in order to find good enough drivers for a whole battalion."

"Are they worth it?" I asked even if I knew thanks to Veil's memories. The Knightmares were going to change the face of warfare.

"We're yet to put them in a proper exercise against an opposing force but what I've seen so far tells me yes. With caveats. One day it might be different, but right now the Knightmares are force multipliers. In urban or broken terrain they might handle better than tanks thanks to their speed and agility. However, they can't take the same amount of punishment."

"Yes. There's no way to armor them to the same extent as tanks." I noted.

"Yes. Which means that the Knightmares would be better on the offensive when they can hit the enemy hard, get out of sight and repeat. If they have to stand their ground..." King shrugged.

Yep, that would be a bad day for them.

"What else have you figured out, brigadier?"

"The Knightmares are force multipliers. I believe they would excel in assaulting strong points in conjunction with tanks and mechanized infantry. While they should be a decent counter for current generation of tanks, the better alternative remains artillery and air-strikes. The Glasgow is a good weapon which could be very useful as a part of our combined arms approach. However, at the moment it isn't the wonder weapon some people try to present it as back in Pendragon."

"I see. How do you believe the mechs will handle themselves in a jungle terrain like in Indochina?" I asked.

"Not necessary bad. Some of my boffins have been toying with an idea about modification which would allow them to traverse terrain usually inaccessible due to ground pressure. It won't be too complicated to mount additional land-spinners around the knees and have them move on multiple wheels. While that would add to the mechanical complexity and thus logistics print it might be enough to make them useful in such a terrain. However, while kneeling their manoeuvrability would be highly reduced."

"I see..." Getting repulsors added would solve that problem. I could build some old fashioned types, however they were quite bulky and powehogs. Their only real advantage compared to modern ones were vital in my case – they didn't need exotic particles to fuel them, which could only be obtained by factories built around black holes. Nevertheless, that was a thought for later – building even a prototype would take more time than I had left before deployment.

Hold that though... There were a lot of hover vehicles in Veil's memories and not all of them used repulsor technology. There were other ways, however was one of them not only practical given the tech base I had available but the time constrain I toiled under? My first instinct was to say no. Yet there was the Sakuradite – that wonder material skewered all assumptions. Why was I thinking about magnets all of a sudden?

 **=ABKR=**

 **21 April 2009 A.T.B.**

 **Briefing room A**

 **The Octagon**

 **Pendragon**

Commandant Fontaine finished listening to the rough outline of a plan I managed to cook up when I wasn't too busy making new weapons and frowned.

"That's why you requested our forces in the region husband their planes last week. I'm more surprised the Emperor agreed." The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs sounded less than pleased.

"He wants that campaign to succeed. It's our job to make sure he gets what he wants." I shrugged.

"May I speak honestly, your highness?" Fontaine asked.

"I would appreciate it."

"There are too many unknowns. Too many chances for something to go wrong. Your plan hinges on the use of multiple experimental and untested weapon systems. Even if they work as advertised, it might not be enough. You're asking me to sign off on the potential death warrant of an understrength division, an Imperial scion and the revelation of secret weapon systems for dubious gain." He didn't say it aloud but it was clear Fontaine was beginning to doubt my sanity. "That's not all!" He continued. "It all hinges of our ability to plan and execute a complex operation with dubious intelligence about our primary targets and you give us a week or so to do it! Even if and that's a big if, we do everything perfectly, we might still end up wasting most of the warheads because we lack firm intelligence on where exactly the Burmese reserve is located!"

"I know that my proposal is less than ideal, sir. However, it's the one plan that might work that I could come up with given the time constrains. Make no mistake, one way or another I will be going to Burma with the forces I've got available. The Emperor ordered it. It's do or die for us."

Fontaine glowered.

"Have you considered the political ramifications of using the new warheads? Why don't we wait until we have enough of them?"

"Producing them is hard. It requires unusually high and clear concentration of refined Sakuradite and we simply don't possess enough to use it on too many missiles. By the end of the week we'll have sixty five cruise missile warheads and thirty lighter for mounting on strike fighters or bomber ordnance. That will virtually wipe out the Sakuradite we could afford to use for the project." I admitted. "Unless we find ourselves in general war we'll have to significantly cut back on production."

"When your plan backfire we're likely to find ourselves in a shooting war with the rest of the world including the biggest producer of Sakuradite!" Fontaine snapped. "Japan." Fontaine whispered. "If the new weapons work as advertised we'll have to throw everything at it to secure more Sakuradite before one of the other superpowers, because once they figure out what is the warheads are made of..."

"I know. This operation is meant to buy us time along with whatever diplomatic miracles the Chancellor could pull off. The Emperor will be cutting off the relevant orders shortly. We'll be going after Japan by this time next year at the latest."

"Gods damn it!" Fontaine cursed. "On your head may it be, your Highness. However, may I suggest a few alternations to your plan?"

"It will be. I'm going with the first wave. We need a demonstration of power that will allow a favorabe diplomatic settlement. I'm all ears, sir." At least Fontaine wasn't the kind of person pointing out flaws with your plan without figuring out some kind of solution. I hoped.

"Even a success in this scheme would make Japan much tougher nut to crack. We're going to lose the element of surprise and shocking factor caused by first deployment of the Knightmares and the new warheads." Fontaine pointed out. "That's a problem for later."

"If we don't resolve the situation in Indochina it might be a moot point." I might have to pull of another miracle... if the tech base and time constrains allowed it. Otherwise, invading Japan was going to be exceedingly ugly even if the Chinese didn't beat us to it. One way or another I had to be in the middle of that mess so I could retrieve my siblings before something happened to them. "What changes do you propose, sir?" I focused on the most relevant problems.

"We only have the general area where the Burmese reserve is camped. Even with the new warheads its too large a zone to bombard blindly. Between their success in camouflaging everything and putting up decoys, hitting the reserve is a waste. Divide the missiles between the main defence line and the airfields. You'll insert as planned, however instead of hitting the defences from behind, you'll have to consolidate ASAP, dig in and halt the reserve long enough for our forces already in place to deal with the bulk of the Burmese army. If your plan works even partially and the airfields are knocked out with most of the enemy air force, CAS, artillery and the sheer shock of the new warheads might allow us a decisive victory." Fontaine gave me a pointed look.

"If two divisions, one heavy mechanized, don't reinforce the Burmese while the battle is still raging." I finished. That might actually work. It did nothing for the big flaws of my plan – an overall reliance on new and untested weapons to give us the edge we would need to succeed. Of course, there was something Fontaine didn't need to know – even if most things went to Hel, using Battle Meditation might allow me to salvage the operation – if I could maintain it for long enough. However, that was another presumption.

Honestly, if it was up to me, we would pull out of Indochina, concentrate on building and testing new weapons for the next six months to a year then take Japan for their Sakuradite. Once we got enough of that resource, it was just a matter of hanging out for long enough before Veil's technology could ensure we could take on the rest of the world and win no matter what they threw at us. Buying that time was going to be the tricky part.

"I see. That certainly eliminates a lot of the unknowns during the operation. I'll implement your suggestions, sir. Do I have your support, general?" I asked.

"My support? You don't. However, I'll do my best to see that you don't get my boys and girls killed in your crazy scheme." Fontaine glowered.

Good enough.

 **=ABKR=**

 **23 April 2009 A.T.B.**

 **Camp Winston**

 **Britannia**

In less than a week we would be in battle, yet this was the first time I met the commanders of the different groups that made up my scratch force.

First was brigadier King, whose Knightmares would hopefully give us the edge we needed to succeed.

Next came lieutenant colonel Benjamin Lujiens. According to his file he was commoner who showed promise and very high scores during his training. He volunteered for the airborne and never looked back. Lujiens was a tall if lanky black man from New Orleans, which explained his southern drawl. There was a not that he shows disrespect to Peers in the military, though given his rank it meant it was probably kept for those who got ahead due to political connections. We tended to keep those away from where they could cause too much harm though from time to time someone like that found themselves on the sharp end and either excelled or got a lot of people killed.

Finally, and last to arrive, was the other colonel – this time a full bird. This was Jerry Flint, the third son of the Duke of Maine. His file was an interesting read. Flint apparently had some kind of failing off with his family and he enlisted as a private fifteen years ago, then due to sheer ability rose through the ranks. He was expected to gain his first star in 2011 after serving the required time as colonel first, a promotion he got just a few months ago. Flint was the biggest of us all – not too tall but his shoulders could be mistaken for a large wardrobe. Despite giving the impression of a mountain of muscle, Jerry moved with a grace unusual of someone his size. His face was square jawed and the picture in his file gave the impression of a bulldog due the scowl he had at the time.

In person he appeared ruggedly handsome with his sandy brown hair and disarming smile. In contrast, Lujiens was uneasy, probably because the rest of us were peers, a whole prince in my case. That or despite our best efforts the rough outline of my plan reached the rumour mill in which case I would be having words with Fontaine.

"Gentlemen, I've gathered you here for a sensitive mission. One mandated by the Emperor no less." That got their attention all right.

"What does the Empire require of us, sire?" King recovered first.

"To win the war in Burma." I cut to the chase.

They shared uneasy looks.

"That's a tall task, your Highness." Flint spoke carefully. He should now. With his command stationed closest to Burma, he would be getting all the good intelligence on the situation so he could be ready for a possible deployment to reinforce our people fighting in the jungle. "Just our commands or do you have your own? Going by everyone's ranks we would make a division at best. Light infantry in colonel Lujiens' case. Unless something radically changed in Burma that won't be enough." At least he was honest, something that I appreciated.

"Understrength division actually. I'm commanding a battalion of experimental weapons." King unhelpfully added.

"That's why you need the Airborne, so we could get the job done." Lujiens cracked a smile before sobering up. "Do you have a plan, sire?"

"In a matter of speaking." I nodded.

"We're dropping up behind enemy lines, I take it?" Flint asked. It was a reasonable conclusion, because along with the orders to report here he got to issue instructions to his regiment to commence parachute training in his absence.

"Yes. In less than a week." I dropped the bomb.

King, who already knew, remained impassive. Lujiens, whose people certainly knew how to jump out of a plane had a pinched expression on his face and Flint, well he blanched.

"Your highness, that doesn't leave much if any time for training together." Lujiens voiced his concerns.

"We'll get a couple of days of training on the Philippines before preparing all our gear for the drop." I raised a hand to forestall the protests that I knew were coming. "I know its insufficient and I have a few ideas to mitigate the dangers. Ideally we would have at least a few weeks to straighten up any issues. Frankly, it's a miracle we got as long as we do. The Emperor demands action and it was all I could do to persuade him that we shouldn't be going in even earlier."

That got them thinking.

"There's no sense protesting?" Flint asked.

"General Fontaine already did. The Emperor overruled the Joint Chiefs concerns." King confirmed. He was with me when Fontaine came back pale faced from meeting father. Ever since then he and his colleagues were engaged planning a general war in case our mission went tits up.

"Then we've got our work cut out for us. What does the Emperor need us for?" Flint's calm voice didn't show the unease he felt, though his eyes told another story.

"Brigadier." I nodded at King.

"We will be dropping behind enemy lines..."

 **=ABKR=**

 **Part 2**

 **=ABKR=**

" _The 501st. The Black Knights. The Grim Reapers. Their beginning traces back to the Imperial invasion of Indochina and the Kingdom of Burma back in January 2009. When the Britannian forces tasked with securing the region bogged down in early March and the frontline stabilized, the task to win the war was given to a hastily cobbled task force. Many in Pendragon, even among the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the time had reservation about their success. The 501st was made by elements of 82nd Airborne division as well as the complete 11th Marine regiment and the first Imperial Knightmare Battalion. Their first operation set the tone for their future deployments – until this day the 501st continues to employ bleeding edge technology and often unconventional tactics in order to achieve their missions..."_

" _Famous units of the Britannian Military",_

 _Haemimont Publishing, New York_

 **=ABKR=**

 **29 April 2009 A.T.B.**

 **FOB General Franklin**

 **Philippines**

"We cut it awfully close, sir." My aide whispered.

Viletta stood at attention next to me while we were reviewing the troops we would take across the pond to Indochina. It took a lot of sleepless nights, pushing the currently existing technology base to its limits and even cheating thanks to liberal use of Sith Alchemy but we were finally ready. All the equipment of Task Force 501 was already loaded on transport planes ready to leave. Missiles with new warheads were delivered to many of the destroyers and cruisers in Third Fleet, which was keeping an eye over our bases in the contested area. I had an airborne regiment, a marine one and brigadier King's whole command. Making the Glasgows ready for deployment in the jungle terrain turned out to be hardest – their ground pressure was just too high, though the same could be said for our MBTs which were locked in operation in very limited areas across Burma. The ground around here simply couldn't withstand the pressure of seventy ton tanks, much less the majority of bridges in the region.

I found the answer thanks to Schwartz's engineers and the properties of the Sakuradite. It was deceptively simple – a modification on the land-spinner system using electromagnetism to literally make the mech's hover a very short distance above the ground. It was a powerhog though it greatly increased the areas they could operate in both south Asia or any desert we might have to deploy them in.

Power... it was an issue too. We were barely able to get a decent amount of spare energy filters for the Glasgows because too much high grade Sakuradite went into the missiles. The resources that went into the weapons I would be bringing in harms way or sending on a one way trip later tonight was simply mind-boggling. Failure simply wasn't an option if for no other reason that if I wasted so much resources on a failed operation father would have my head on a silver plater no matter how useful Veil knowledge would be. After all if whatever plans he had for the future actually succeeded, all the technology I could use to uplift Earth might be a largely moot point from his POV. I couldn't afford to forget that I wasn't vital for the Emperor's plans, but merely a potentially convenient short-cut as well as a contingency in case he failed.

Ironically, right now failing father was quite low on my priority list.

Before me, seven thousand three hundred men and women stood at attention. They were some of the best the Empire had and they would shortly follow me up into a hair-brained scheme that might see us all dead.

I couldn't afford to waver. I couldn't fail. All those people were counting on me to know what the in Hella's name was I doing. They trusted me because I was one of their Princes. Perhaps even because I was Cornelia's brother. I suddenly found out that duty had very real and tangible weight to it.

That ancient saying? Duty is heavier than mountain? This was the first time I could say I truly experienced it. I've led people in combat before. A single platoon with a few odds and ends added. However, seeing seven thousand people believing in me to see them through the coming battle... It simply couldn't compare. It was... humbling.

"Men and women of Britannia!" My voice rang over the training plaza where we were all gathered. I used the Force to enhance it and grab their attention. I wasn't naturally charismatic so I had to cheat. "Tonight, we go into the unknown. Our brothers and sisters in Burma are locked in a stalemate that bleeds whole divisions white. We are going to break it. Break anyone who dares stand in our way. My father, the Emperor himself gave the order and we will not fail him, nor Britannia!" I touched their mind with a light brush of Battle Meditation. My confidence became their own. My determination reinforced the faith they had in themselves an in me. "Each one of you is among the best the Empire has produced your generation and tonight we prove it for the whole world to see! All Hail Britannia!"

My cry was repeated by thousands of throats until the plaza shook with their chanting.

"Board your transports, ladies and gentlemen. Tonight we go to war!"

"That wasn't the short speech you prepared." Viletta chided once the closest soldiers were marching towards their planes.

"I felt this was more fitting. Your thoughts?" I really don't know where those words came from. They simply felt right.

"Not too shabby sir. Just make sure we get to come back from our little war more or less intact." There was an odd mixcture of worry and anticipation in Viletta's voice.

"Do you want to live forever?"

"Preferably. If I get to remain young and beautiful. Shall we go, sir?"

I simply nodded and headed for the transport holding our command vehicle. Viletta fell in step behind me. One way or another, tonight we would make history.

 **=ABKR=**

 **29 April 2009 A.T.B.**

 **Kingdom of Burma**

For two weeks the Britannian forces had been quiet and simply sitting upon their hard won gains. There were no air-strikes unless requested in order to keep a position from getting overran. The Britannian air force husbanded its planes as if they were precious commodities, the same was true for Third Fleet's carrier.

People in Brussels and the Forbidden City alike believed that the Empire finally learned its lessons and rejoiced. There were few who warned for a possible enemy onslaught, yet intelligence sources contradicted those fear mongers. All Imperial heavy forces continued to be at normal readiness. There was no massive troop movement that would herald a dangerous Britannian offensive. Their other fleets kept to their sectors too. Only small scale reinforcements kept trickling in meant to replace losses not to build up forces for a new offensive. There were the odd rumours of the enemy deploying airborne and Marine assets which might do a bit better in the jungles and rivers of Burma, yet only a single regiment of the former was seen boarding transports for destination unknown. The major concentration of Britannian marines were under observation too and there was no sign that they would be going anywhere. Perhaps that new division training at Camp Nelson, but it wasn't expected to be combat ready for at least another month.

All things considered, the Empire was uncharacteristically quiet. People across the globe believed that Pendragon simply didn't know how to throw the towel and for the time being was content to let things in Asia simmer. Some were even content with such an outcome.

They were wrong. At midnight of April twenty-fifth, sixty cruise missiles flew just above the treetops across Burma. That by itself was nothing new – the Empire had expended few hundred of those weapons since it began its invasion. They were powerful but not particularly accurate. A manageable danger that had to be endured.

The new Britannian warheads changed that calculus. While nothing was done for the lack of accuracy, the sheer power of enhanced liquid Sakuradite explosive carried by each missile made that drawback mostly a moot point. Half the missiles expended themselves over known strong points on the Burmese defences snarling the Britannian forces. Three warheads struck every one of the five remaining enemy airbases... and each of them detonated with the fury of a kiloton of TNT. In a single vicious stroke the Burmese air force was crippled and suddenly its surviving planes, which were largely those on a mission or scrambled to try intercepting the missiles, found themselves tangling with every single air-superiority fighter the Empire could throw their way, followed by whole squadrons of strike fighters on a SEAD mission. A third wave made of bombers configured for CAS role went in behind the fighters serving as a final decoy.

Task Force 501 came in behind them using the armada as a cover. They dropped between the enemy defensive lines and the Burmese strategic reserve even as Britannian artillery lit up the jungle.

In the resulting chaos, no one was able to keep track or care for the dozen reckon planes searching for troop concentrations to be annihilated from the air.

 **=ABKR=**

 **Dagger 1-1**

 **Imperial Knightmare Corps**

 **Kingdom of Burma**

Brigadier Knight dropped with the first lave, which held his whole battalion along with equivalent force from the 82nd airborne. The paras came in with their own vehicles – Sheridan tanks and LAV, which not only gave them decent mobility but more importantly a punch normally out of the league of airborne troops. Those vehicles were very useful assets as long as the paras didn't run into a proper armoured or mechanized force, because when all was said and done their light equipment simply wasn't up to the task of going one to one with their MBT and AFV variants.

In theory that wouldn't matter in this case. In practice, the 501st was meant to stop the enemy reserves from reinforcing the crippled defensive lines where a significant number of the Burmese army was concentrated. The air-force was meant to ruin their day anyway because there was a squadron of strike fighters with lighter variants of the new Thor warheads going after the reserve once it was on the move. It was an unfortunate thing that is precise location wasn't known so it could receive a wake up call in the form of a few cruise missiles too.

King would have to be content with what was promised to be the virtual annihilation of the enemy air force guaranteeing friendly skies unless the Chinese came in force.

"We're in position. Commence drop!" The drop master announced. The ramp of the C10 Globemaster opened and green lamps lit up its cramped interior.

"Dagger 1-1 to all Dagger elements. Drop!" King ordered and drove his Knightmare over the ramp. He let himself free-fall for five seconds before pressing a button and opening the chutes meant to deploy him safely to the ground. The sensor suite built in the head of his Glasgow lit up with another command and the brigadier smiled. The horizon behind them was lit on fire as artillery hammered the Burmese positions. It was enough to see massive pillars of smoke rising in the air. The angle wasn't good but he though he could make large circles of flattened and burning jungle.

It seemed that the new warhead deserved their designation as a manifestation of Thor's might.

All wasn't well. Here and there concealed AA positions opened fire. A few missiles and cannon shells rose to meet the dropping troops and the 501st's escorting fighters dove to silence the threat. A transport went evasive high above and began releasing flares. One missile was fooled and went for the decoys, then a second. The third flew right in its open ramp and detonated blowing it apart. All King could do was hope that the people in the back had already jumped out.

The brigadier saw one of its Knightmares run afoul of an AA gun which shredded its chute and let the machine helplessly tumble through the air. Then a HARM missile followed the siren song of the emplacement's targeting radar silencing it. The fly-boys added couple of bombs too just to be sure.

Finally, King hit got close to the ground. He activated the magnetic hover system as instructed, which if the boffins and tests in Nevada were right would reduce the odds of bad landing, then braced himself for impact. The Glasgow shook when it fell through the canopy of a small three then it hit the ground in more or less the right position. The impact jolted King but it wasn't any harder than he feared. He released the chutes then scanned the area for enemy. Only then did he run a quick diagnostic. His hover system showed in yellow signifying mild to moderate damage and reduced speed but otherwise his steed seemed to be all right.

"Dagger 1-1 to all Dagger elements, report and converge at point Alpha." King ordered. So far so good. It was time to see when the other shoe was going to drop.

"Overlord actual to all Overlord elements, I'm assuming tactical command. Plan A is in effect until further notice. Form up and converge to your assigned positions ASAP. SAR group is dropping last so if you're stranded give them a call."

So the prince made it to the ground.

"Dagger 1-1, Overlord. Affirmative. Plan A is in effect." King confirmed.

 **=ABKR=**

 **Overlord Actual**

 **Kingdom of Burma**

It looked like that my fist two gambles paid off. The chatter I could get from the air force seemed to confirm that the warheads were at least as effective as our tests projected. The bulk of the Burmese air force was gutted on the ground with what they had in the air getting swarmed. That still left their ground based air-defence network, which some of our boys and girls were hammering right now. It was just sufficiently compromised that I deemed the risk of dropping behind enemy lines justified.

By all accounts it worked. We lost only three of the transports, unfortunately two were almost chock full with either Knightmares or paras. That stung. Three Frames and a whole platoon of troopers gone before they could hit the ground.

I knew that such light losses were a miracle, but that knowledge did nothing for the way I felt. I had to coldly conclude that my second gamble worked too. The third one – that we could organize ourselves before the enemy reserve slammed into and through us, that was still up in the air. My original plan called for jumping much closer to our own lines and almost on top of the Burmese defences so we could add to the chaos of the attack. When I changed the plan thanks to Fontaine's insight, our priorities shifted. We no longer necessary expected contact right where we landed so we could spend a bit of time to consolidate. In fact we had to do so to be ready to meet the enemy reserve once it mobilized.

On the plus side, the Burmese moblized slower than I feared. The reason soon became apparent and it was a problem in on itsefl.

The air force was hammering the bastards – two mechanized divisions worth of them, however they refused to concentrate into one nice big target for our new weapons. The enemy reserve had been spread out even more than I feared. Trying to take enough of them with the limited Thor warheads we had available would have been a waste of resources for dubious gain. There was another plus – they would be slow to hit us and more importantly, there wouldn't be a singe huge hammer blow we might be unable to resist.

I allowed myself to relax a fraction, which was noted by the people cramped with me in the small air-dropped command vehicles I used as a CP. There were the driver, four technicians and Viletta in here and it was a very tight fit. My nominal XO, brigadier King was with the vanguard gathering his Knightmares. A platoon worth from his battalion was either lost in the air, managed to somehow drop off course or got mission killed, or outright gutted at the landing. Frankly that was better that I expected given all the new-fanged equipment concentrated on the Knightmare frames in their first combat deployment. With a bit of luck, they would prove themselves to be as dangerous as the trials showed.

The airborne and marines, who got two weeks worth of jump cross-training before this deployment, landed more or less in the targeted area. Minus missing, injured and dead I should have two thirds of my remaining combat strength in place before the enemy reserves hit us. The rest would watch our back to ensure we wouldn't be surprised by Burmese coming from the main defensive lines.

I knew we were lucky not to lose more people in the air on on landing, but over fifty casualties before we even engaged the enemy on the ground stung. They were more responsibilty and I felt I already failed them. I had to console myself with the fact that so far my plan was working.

With a guaranteed air superiority, baring a disaster like the Chinese jumping in to join the show, we should be able to eke out a victory here. One that might be impressive enough give us a satisfactory conclusion to the conflict. Utilizing the new warheads was a risk, but I hoped and Schneizel agreed that their capabilities might be enough to keep the Chinese at bay; at least until they could assess the danger the weapon represented as well as a viable countermeasure.

Just in case half the warhead we built were going to be kept in reserve as a last ditch effort to bluff the Federation if they didn't stay put. They were targeted at Chinese military installations and logistics hubs near the border. The rough plan was that if everything went to hell the navy would inflict as much damage with Thor's and conventional warheads while we pulled back and concede territory until we had enough special weapons to fight our way in range of Manchuria and Korea. At which point we were going to hammer the Federation's industrial heartland.

That was one of the worst case scenarios the Joint Chiefs planned for after I presented the plan for my operation to Fontaine. It was only father's backing that pushed something so risky through and now I had to make sure it worked.

Curiously no one mentioned how dangerous the original invasion my operation was meant to salvage was. Apparently father by courtesy of being the Emperor, didn't have to justify hair-brained schemes that could start a world war. Needless to say, I lacked such clout.

"This is Dagger 4-3. I've got enemy movements through the jungle. It looks like scouting party. Engaging."

"Spear 2-1, to Overlord. We're in position at point Beta. Currently digging in." That was the main route and train line leading to the front. It was the fastest way for enemy reinforcements to come calling and before their air force was gutted it was reasonably secure under the Burmese air-defence umbrella. That still remained the one viable way to shuttle in heavy forces in a reasonable amount of time. It was also the best way to ex-filtrate the people at the main defensive lines. Oh, they could try vanishing in the jungles, though there was artillery in position to interdict them as well as two air-cavalry battalions part of the original invasion force, which would be deploying any moment now to finish mousetrapping everyone at the Burmese lines.

"Cricket Three, Overlord. Be advised I'm seeing a lot of turtles, victors and charlies coming your way. They do have owls with them. Just crossing into sector seven."

That was one of our eyes in the air. Turtles were tanks, victors – AFVs and Charlies – APCs as the current Britannian military jargon went. Owls – that might be trouble. They were air-defence vehicles and we had to assume they would be modern ones.

"Overlord Actual, Cricket Three, appreciated." I switched channels. "Overlord, Raptor flight. I've got your menu laid out. Turtles, victors and charlies escorted by owls. Lit up sector seven."

"Raptor One, Overlord Actual. Roger that. Serving them now..."

I let the fly-boys and gals do their job and returned to commanding my own troops. At this rate we would be more or less in position by the time anyone could hit us in strength.

"Raptor Three, Overlord Actual!" A terse voice shouted over the radio. "Multiple AA sites just lit us up all around the main road in sectors five through seven. Owls are modern. I say again, Owls are modern! We won't be able to properly serve the menu."

"Dagger 1-1, Overlord. The horizon over here just lit up with AA fire. Missiles and cannon both, a lot of them." King reported.

My mind raced. Did we walk into a trap? Nah. If we did most of us wouldn't have made it to the ground... What did that leave? Did we catch the bastards napping or did they have orders to keep a low profile unless the Burmese lost air superiority yet had to shuttle in reinforcements through the only viable route. Perhaps both...

"Raptor Four, Overlord Actual. Me and five are the only ones left. We got a chunk of turtles and victors with the Thors, however most of the menu wasn't served. Be advised you've got a division incoming minus about a battalion worth of turtles and victors. We need a proper SEED strike before hitting the alley conventionally. There's too many AA covering the alley. They suckered us good. We're going to rearm and coming back ASAP. Raptor Four, out."

I was wondering when everything would go to hell and Mr. Murphy didn't disappoint.

 **=ABKR=**

 **Part 3**

 **=ABKR=**

 **Dagger 1-1**

 **Imperial Knightmare Corps**

 **Kingdom of Burma**

"Negative, Dagger 1-1. No more air support for the time being. Over a hundred Chinese fighters just crossed the border. Command is re-tasking everything with wings to keep the skies neutral. All strike fighters are pulling back to rearm after the SEED mission. Bombers are on hold in case Federation ground forces cross the border. We're on our own. Overlord actual, out."

"We were too smart for our own good." King grumbled to himself. "Gods..." If the Chinese came in force, they were all fucked.

The brigadier knew the plan. There were still over thirty Thor warheads in reserve just in case the Federation did something regrettable. It would be another question if they would be sufficient to stop them cold. It might not matter for his command if they couldn't stop the heavy division coming their way.

"Dagger 2-1, Dagger 1-1. Enemy vanguard sighed. Engaging, over."

"Dagger 1-1, Dagger 2-1. Roger that. Don't get bogged down. Hit them hard and pull back behind the defensive line." King ordered.

Playing defence wasn't the Glasgows strong suit. They were offensive weapons. It was fortunate that the Prince saw that and the plan intended to use them as such through counter-attacks and hit and run tactics. The one thing King's people couldn't afford was to be bind in place and forced to hold their ground. Especially in this terrain. It might be different in a city provided they had ample infantry support but here in the Jungle the Knightmares were simply too big targets. They had to rely on their mobility or die.

King called up the feed from second company and one of his monitors split showing multiple camera takes. The picture was grainy – not very good quality at all but stable nonetheless.

The Glasgows emerged from the Jungle in their kneeling hover configuration, thus presenting smaller profiles. They demonstrated that a Knightmare could definitely pass through terrain practically inaccessible for tanks or other armoured vehicles. With the new system cooked up by the boffins ground pressure didn't matter much. While King was interested to see if the new equipment could be modified to fit on tanks without significant drawbacks, that was something for the people back home to worry about.

Second company hit fast and hard. They rained death upon the leading elements of the Burmese division. It soon became clear that while tanks might be resistant to the standard riffles carried by the Glasgows, the same couldn't be said about AFVs and APCs. Night and thermal vision along with state of the art targeting computers certainly helped and the enemy vanguard was simply shredded before they could effectively return fire. A burst was enough to puncture the comparatively thin skinned Burmese Federation built vehicles and turn their crews in so much red paste.

The two tanks with the Vanguard survived the initial onslaught and turned their armoured noses towards the incoming Knightmares. They managed a single shot apiece before Glasgows carrying heavy weapons signed them out for particular attention. Both tanks missed and ate three missiles each for their troubles. When Second Company pulled back a minute later, they left twice their numbers in APCs and AFVs dead in their wake. Only two Knightmares damaged by auto-cannons had to be dragged back by their comrades.

The first round went for Task Force 501 and King's Knightmares. Now the enemy was going to be even more careful, which would buy more time to dig in. King let out a sigh of relief he didn't know he held back. He owed a case of whisky to the Marine Force Recon platoon that cleared up the Jungle for his Knightmares to get unnoticed in their ambush position.

 **=ABKR=**

 **Overlord Actual**

 **Kingdom of Burma**

"Cricked Eight, Overlord Actual. I have to pull back. Multiple Federation Ducks incoming. A hundred plus. All Aesir elements are moving to intercept, over."

The other shoe dropped. At least we had contingency plans for Chinese air support coming in case we succeeded in taking out the Burmese air force on the ground. However, we weren't going to escalate by hitting targets in Federation territory unless they put boots on the ground so the remaining Thor equipped cruise missiles stayed in their cradles on the ships of Third Fleet. If the air force could keep the sky neutral we might be able to get our job done. Unfortunately, unless the situation became critical, we would be getting no more ground support – all strike fighters would soon be pulling back to rearm after their SEAD mission and what bombers weren't hammering the defence line behind us would be kept in reserve in case the Chinese surged over the border like a rampaging Mongol horde.

Deploying the Thors' was always a calculated risk. It could shock the other superpowers in backing off and giving us precious breathing space. It could also escalate this conflict into a world war, which would be less than ideal. With Veils technical knowledge and Britannia's industrial and resource base we would likely win in the end though I shuddered at the thought of fighting that war right now. In five years, a decade – I would be confident in a victory, which won't see the Empire falling apart due to the strain. Today? We had to shatter the Burmese. Repulse the Chinese if they came calling in such a way they wouldn't be eager for a war. Anything less was unacceptable.

"Overlord Actual, any Cricket designation having eyes on the lane. Report." I demanded. My voice sounded eery calm in my ears and I had no idea how that happened, because my heard was thundering in my chest as if it was trying to jump out.

"Cricket Two, Overlord Actual. Enemy battalion strength formation is deploying for an attack. Thermals show a lot of infantry moving on your flanks through the jungle. Gods speed, over."

"Overlord Actual, all Spear and Dagger elements, be advised enemy lead battalion is preparing for a probing attack. There's infantry in the jungle on both flanks. Report status, over."

"Spear 1-1, Overlord Actual. We've got basic fortifications set up. I'll appreciate all the time you could buy us."

"Dagger 1-1, Overlord Actual. Dagger 2-1 is pulling Second Company back. We're ready to implement Plan A."

"Overlord Actual, to all elements – good work. The enemy will be in position to strike shortly. Prepare to receive heavy Burmese attack, over."

My people would need to hold off alone until the enemy was fully engaged. Only then I could afford to use Battle Meditation and hopefully that would prove decisive. Otherwise, we were all fucked.

"Overlord Actual, Castle Bravo. Status update, please." I called general Charles Brightman. He was the man in charge of the Britannian invasion of Burma and right now was supposed to throw everything he had against the weakened enemy defences behind us.

"Castle Bravo Actual, Overlord Actual. We've penetrated the fortifications in three places, however fanatical enemy resistance is slowing us down. I can't give you a timetable on them folding. Just keep their reserve at bay. We'll do our part. Castle Bravo Actual, out."

"Overlord Actual, Castle Bravo Actual. Affirmative. Engaging leading elements of the enemy reserve. We'll buy you as much time as you need. Overlord Actual, out."

This was less than ideal. Even with the Thor strikes on their positions, there was a whole army group behind us. Brightman's attack was meant as much to punch through the fortifications as to keep enough of the enemy stuck in place so they couldn't simply turn back a division or two and overrun us. Ideally the air force would have dealt with most of the enemy reserve by itself releasing me to unleash King's Knightmares upon the defences from behind as originally envisioned. Yet, Fontaine was right and I should have seen in earlier. As advanced as my world was, the technology for precise strikes that could wipe out whole formations simply wasn't there yet. Even if it was we no longer had air superiority that would allow the air force to deliver such a punishing blow.

That left us to stop the reserves the hard old fashioned way.

 **=ABKR=**

For the last half hour my people were locked into a vicious fire-fight within the jungle surrounding us. Most of the airborne along with the marine Force Recon units were slugging it out with at least twice their number of Burmese infantry. So far they were holding and the situation at our primary defence line was even better – the leading enemy battalion ran right into dug light amour and most of the marine regiment. They bounced hard too, leaving half their number littering the ground.

Meanwhile, the situation in the air was stabilizing. The Chinese hadn't fed any more planes into the fight and our air force was keeping the skies more or less neutral above us. The same couldn't be said about the Burmese lines behind us, which were constantly pounded by artillery and bombers, while Brightman's people were doing their best to dug them out. The best news for the night so far was that all enemy artillery at our back appeared to be silenced. While there was a lot of Burmese mortar fire, nothing heavier has spoken in anger against us for the past twenty minutes, which was encouraging.

Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said about the enemy reserves. Cricket Two informed me a few minutes ago that she had view of enemy medium artillery setting up as well as SPGs crawling into range. The only reason they had been kept quiet so far was probably because the enemy commander wanted to hit us with everything he had once his heavy elements were in position and they almost were.

"Overlord Actual, Aesir Actual." I called the air force controller in an AWACKS at least a hundred kilometres behind us. "I need a strike package on enemy artillery setting up in the open. Over."

"Aesir Actual, Overlord Actual. I'll see what I could do. Do I have permission to release a flight from the reserve? Over."

I thought about it for a moment. We did have a whole bomber wing kept back. They were meant to cover our retreat if the Chinese ground forces surged across the border. In that case they might prove either invaluable or useless depending on how much fighters the Federation could commit on short order for this fight.

"Overlord Actual, Aesir Actual. Release one strike package from the reserve. My authority. I need that artillery gone before they could ruin my day. Overlord Actual, out."

I got a confirmation and a promise that the targets would be serviced shortly. The bombers almost made it in time too, however the first barrage struck our forward lines causing casualties and disrupting my men before a flight of Lancers screamed overhead and plastered the enemy artillery with bombs and napalm.

"Cricket Two, Overlord Actual. I'm seeing good hits. Targets serviced. Be advised, I've got a squadron worth of ducks coming this way. Bombers are disengaging until the sky is clear. I'm booking it too. It looks like turtles and victors are almost ready to pay you a visit. Gods speed, Cricket Two out."

"Overlord Actual to all Overlord Elements. Stand by for possible air raid. Heavy Burmese ground attack imminent. Dagger 1-1, prepare to counter-attack on my orders..." I sent a set of orders to my people.

 **=ABKR=**

 **Spear 1-1**

 **Kingdom of Burma**

Lieutenant colonel Flint was within a hastily dug in shallow trench sorting out the casualties after the artillery barrage. He briefly contemplated using part of his reserve to plug the holes but dismissed the idea. His people had to hold and he would need that company intact for when all Hel broke lose.

He didn't show his surprise at how well the insane plan he was roped in by higher authority was going so far. For his peoples sake he continued to carry on as if he had an utmost confidence in the Prince's insane scheme. He had even briefly contemplated resigning in protest but got that idea out of his system very fast. His regiment was in position to be sent on this insane adventure and they would have gone with or without him. At least Jerry knew he cared for his boys and girls and would do his best to see them through this Loki patented insanity. The same couldn't be said for whoever might have replaced him.

The problem was that the plan going better than he expected didn't mean all was right in the world. On the contrary, because Flint's worst case scenario meant he and everyone under his command might have been dead before even touching the ground.

If his father could see him now... The old man might just die of mirth because he believed that Jerry's life would be wasted by the military. Flint feared that this might indeed be the case tonight.

The colonel frowned and ignored that thought. If he believed he was doomed the enemy had already won and he wasn't going to do the bastard's work for them. Besides, the Chinese might be content with only sending in their fighters in which case the plan might actually work.

Might was the operative word here. Without sufficient CAS available, the main counter they had for the enemy armor were King's machines and Jerry had no faith that the experimental weapons would be enough as outnumbered as they were going to be.

"Contact! Enemy tanks and infantry coming hot!" Someone sounding like gunny Vincent shouted from the front.

Even with night-vision goggles on, Jerry heard the tanks before seeing them, which sounded harder that in seemed – for the last half hour the sound of battle coming from both flanks combined into almost deafening cacophony.

The distinctive shriek of mortar rounds on the other hand were very easy to make up even through the gunfire. Explosions blossomed over the Britannian lines and then the enemy was here. The tanks announced themselves with the roar of cannon and the chatter of machine-guns. Small dark shapes trotted besides the armoured beasts showing why the behemoths weren't coming in faster. Someone on the other side kept their head and didn't let the armour outrun their infantry support. The boxy shapes of AFVs and APCs could be barely made up behind the heavy armour, which was obvious meant to soak the initial punishment.

"All units fire at will. HWP teams, take out those tanks!" Flint ordered and just like that he was a spectator until it was time to commit his reserve or something went very, very wrong.

Smoke rounds – bloody phosphorous began raining with the other mortar rounds. Flint saw one of his men – a brand new private be hit by one of those burning horrors. He shrieked in pain before two of his buddies tackled him and began the grim task of cutting off the burning Hel from the poor bastard.

Sergeant Vargas was gone next – one moment she was snapping order, then a mortar detonated above her trench and she vanished in a shower of gore.

AT missiles slammed into the lead enemy tank and it came apart when its ammo detonated. The cupola flew up on a pillar of fire and Jerry knew that the crew was relatively lucky – it didn't look like they even felt what hit them.

Another Burmese tank died after a Sheridan slammed a HEAT round through its lower plate, then three of the enemy MBTs concentrated on that luckless Britannian machine. One wasted its shot on the hastily dug in fortification around the light tank, but the others struck true. The Sheridan's cupola caved in and then it was burning. A single burning and screaming crewmember managed to crawl out and someone put the poor bastard out of his misery. A LAV died gutted by a pair of AFVs. Enemy infantry was falling in front of the trenches, some cut off by Flint's men, others to present a smaller profile as they returned fire. A tank almost got through the first line of defence, yet when it tried to drive over a trench it revealed its lower plate and a Sheridan eviscerated it with a HEAT which sliced into the crew compartment with no trouble.

The slaughter went on and on as his forward deployed battalion was slowly being ground to nothing.

After what felt like an eternity through an unrelenting enemy attack, Flint called in his reserve company. He had to use his rifle more and more as the first line of defence was overran. His men didn't break, they simply died swarmed under a wave after wave of infantry and armour. Still, li Britannia was silent and King's men remained uncommitted.

Jerry glanced at his clock. Was it just half an hour? In that short amount of time a third of his regiment was either dead or wounded, yet the enemy showed no sign of relenting. At least all the wrecked vehicles proved to be obstacle for the rest of the enemy tanks. Bigger one than most of his marines, because they were running very low on AT weaponry. At least there were still some Sheridans and LAVs with unexpended TOWs dug at the third line and still unengaged.

"Overlord Actual, Spear 1-1. Be advised, we're dropping the hammer momentarily." For the first time since he met the Prince, Flint was relieved to hear that bastard's voice. Now it was time to see if King's toys could save the day or if his marines would have to do everything themselves...

 **=ABKR=**

 **Dagger 1-1**

 **Kingdom of Burma**

Howard hated the waiting. The marines were holding the line, dying doing it. The casualties were mounting, yet he didn't have permission to engage. He knew it was the right decision – only when enough of the enemy were committed and engaged he could strike for the best effect.

It made no difference as he listened to the reports coming from Flint. Almost whole battalion was either dead or wounded, the Burmese were fully engaged with the second line and the third and last was very thin even if it had a lot of the airborne and marine vehicles dug in it... There wasn't a fourth. Just First Knightmare Battalion waiting to be unleashed.

A hiss of static came over the radio.

"... drop the hammer. I say again, Dagger 1-1, drop the hammer." li Britannia's voice has never been so welcomed.

"Dagger 1-1 to all Dagger elements. We're a go. I say again, we're a go. Engage the enemy by platoons. ROEs Beta." King ordered.

Beta meant that targeting priorities went from tanks as highest to common infantry as lowest.

Howard's hands caressed his steed's controls and below him the Knightmare came to live with a purr. It was time to proof to the whole world that the face of warfare has changed yet again.

King's command platoon went in after Dagger 2-1 and 3-1 at the back of the Knightmare formation. He had to in order to keep a semblance of control over his people, something impossible if he was leading from the front and engaging the enemy directly from the beginning. It was unfortunate that he had only three platoons available for the counter-attack from the five with which his battalion began. Between casualties and the force waiting in reserve at the back of TF 501 his assets were very limited. He and his people just had to make due with what they had.

The Knightmares first appearance did shock the Burmese for a few precious seconds. It wasn't everyday you saw things from sci-fi descending upon you. Besides, they were engaging Flint's people and some of them didn't even notice the danger before it was far too late.

The heavy weapon teams on the flanks opened fire first. Missiles and recoilless rifles struck enemy tanks gutting most of their targets in the first salvo. The Britannian vehicles in the third line surged forward too adding their fire-power to the counter-attack and suddenly the Burmese tanks in the immediate vicinity were burning wrecks.

The enemy AFVs who hung back got more warning. Some tried to fight, others reversed along with the APCs and tried to disengage. It didn't matter. The Knightmares were either resistant or outright immune to their weapons thanks to their light and very expensive Sakuradite based composite armour. Those vehicles on the other hand were easy to open with AP rounds...

King knew that in few months, perhaps a year or two on the outside things might be different. The enemy would sooner or later deploy either frames of their own or new generations of fighting vehicles with better weapons and armour. Today, it didn't matter. He did lose people, but not enough to even slow down the Knightmare charge. Dagger 3-2 ran afoul of another tank echelon coming in for their own attack. He somehow avoided couple of sabot rounds which streaked past his frame, but the rest of the enemy platoon nailed him and no Knightmare in either existence or the drawing board could survive a tank shell hitting it in the chest, much less three of them practically at the same time.

The Glasgow simply disintegrated in a shower of burning metal. Dagger 2-1 died next. Howard bit off a string of curses when his friend lieutenant George Riley took an AT rocket in the side of the cockpit and all telemetry was lost. Dagger 2-5 went too far ahead and even the Glasgows agility and armor, not to mention the pilots skills wasn't enough to keep her from being turned into mincemeat by two platoons of AFVs.

"Dagger 2-3, keep your people tight! Dagger elements, don't separate or they'll overwhelm us!" Howard snapped then he was lost in the rush of combat.

Two more Daggers fell to the advancing enemy tanks but then it was too late for the MBTs. The Knightmares were among them and it was a slaughter. Even here in a terrain that was far from ideal, King's hand-picked people proved their superiority.

Much later, when he was debriefed about the battle, King could remember only flashbacks. The camera recordings from the surviving Knightmares spoke louder than words anyway.

What he knew for sure was that soon after his attack began, he felt utterly calm and invincible. King had unshakable belief that nothing could stop him and his people.

His Glasgow dashed just ahead of a turning tank cupola until he could shoot through the thinner armor at the sides and back. A line of retreating APCs coming apart one after another under his rifle and harkens. Dagger 1-5 gliding around a tank platoon that desperately tried to target it and failed.

Infantry desperately blasting at him with rifles and SAWs before he turned them into so much paste. A man with RPG almost nailed him before King stepped on the poor sod.

Then suddenly it was all over. More than half the people King led into the counter-attack were either dead or had their Knightmares mission killed, however it was worth it. The enemy's spine was broken. The few Burmese he could see were either surrendering or were running into the jungle after abandoning their weapons. He looked around and was astounded to find out that he was a few kilometres away from the friendly lines. Behind him the road was littered with burning wreckage, testament to the skill and valour his knights fought with.

It took him few moments to comprehend what he was seeing, then even longer to believe it. If the rest of the road looked just like this... No wonder the enemy was surrendering. King suddenly knew that the two heavy mechanized division TF 501 was meant to stop were no longer a threat for their burning remains were strewn as far as his eyes could see.

"Dagger 1-1 to all Dagger elements, report status." Training took over and King went to check on his people.

"Overlord Actual, all TF 501 elements. Excellent work. You all made me proud. Consolidate and resupply. Our job isn't done. The enemy main defence line is still holding." The Prince's voice sounded tired. "What's worse, Aesir recon element detected Federation forces pouring over the border before being forced to flee. We need to help Castle Bravo destroy the Burmese army behind us and pull back before we're overran. I'm taking personal command over our rearguard and hitting the enemy ASAP. Proceed to reinforce us once you've resupplied. Overlord Actual, over."

King's victory suddenly felt like ash in his mouth. A spread of cruise missiles shrieked overhead towards the Chinese border. He knew what that meant. The balloon was up and no matter what happened now their mission became a strategic loss.


	6. Chapter 6 Parts 1&2

**Disclaimer: I don't own either of the Code Geass, Gundam Seed or Star wars franchises. This story is not written with commercial purpose in mind. I make no money from it. It is not for sale or rent.**

* * *

 **Chapter 6: The First World War**

 **=ABKR=**

 **Part 1**

 **=ABKR=**

* * *

 **Overlord Actual**

 **Kingdom of Burma**

Odin save me from other such victories! A combination of sheer luck, air power, Knightmares, sheer bloody mindedness and Battle Meditation saw two heavy Burmese divisions gutted beyond recovery. Their scattered survivors were either surrendering en masse or running in the jungle after discarding their weapons.

It was a stunning victory, though one my people paid in blood. For all intends and purposes at least a battalion of Flint's marines were gone for good; the paras got mauled in the jungle holding our flanks and King's Knightmares paid up front for their stunning counter-attack.

There shouldn't be any other enemy reinforcements of note that could reach us for at least a day – hopefully that would be enough time to finish shattering the Burmese army behind us. I was preparing to ensure that happened. In just a few minutes I would be taking our rearguard along with what vehicles we still got operational and hitting the locals in the back. Using Battle Meditation again even for a short period of time was going to wipe me out but it might just prove the final push we needed.

Yet, in the grand scheme of things, our victory didn't matter. The Chinese were coming in force. The primary objective of this bloody exercise was already a failure and Euphie might end up paying for it!

The Dark Side whispered dark suggestions at the back of my mind and I was mightily tempted to listen.

We had to wrap up this battle ASAP and then haul ass before the Chinese got here and had their nasty way with us... and even that might not be enough unless the navy managed to keep all enemy fleets off our backs until we were out of the region safely.

"Dagger 4-2, take point. We're coming right behind you." I ordered. My voice was raspy and my hands shook with the strain of the Battle Meditation I already used. There was nothing to it – I grit my teeth and channelled even more power.

Viletta gave me a wary look but kept her tongue. She suspected I used my arcane abilities, however knew better than speaking about it with others present.

"Take us behind the LAVs." I called to the driver in the front. "Overlord Actual, Spear 1-1. You have command. Follow us ASAP. Dagger elements, resupply and move to assist us."

The truck's engine rumbled to life and we were moving.

"Castle Bravo Actual, Overlord Actual. Primary mission accomplished. We're moving on the secondary objective with all available forces. ETA thirty minutes. Over." I called Brightman.

"Overlord Actual, Castle Bravo Actual. Roger that. Good work. We'll give you some covering artillery once you get to sector twenty-three. Second Mechanized is pushing up the lane and still encountering heavy resistance. They're on channel Gamma. Coordinate with Aspen Actual. Castle Bravo Actual, out."

"Aspen Actual, Overlord Actual, please respond." It was hight time we sealed the Burmese fate. Once I heard from them, I pushed my Battle Meditation to the limit I could handle and latched to the Mech Battalion slamming into the disrupted enemy lines.

* * *

 **=ABKR=**

It was almost funny. I didn't come under fire, nor engaged the enemy directly yet I was utterly exhausted by the time morning came. I could barely see and only a lot of caffeine and couple of stimulant tablets kept me on my feet – barely at that. The second use of Battle Meditation, wiped me out as I feared.

However, it did the job just as I hoped it would.

Our attack in the enemy rear came as a one shock too many. It was a proof that what they feared – the destruction of their reinforcements, was true. We advanced under a steel rain courtesy of Brightman's artillery and hit fast and hard with impossible coordination. Second Mechanized Battalion spent itself opening a nice large hole in the enemy line and left the faltering Burmese drown under the onslaught by the rest of that division. Then non-stop artillery barrages and air-strikes simply melted any still coherent enemy formations that tried to flee in the surrounding jungle.

Once my technique shattered the Burmese confidence and turned their courage into terror, the outcome was predictable. The Burmese defence line simply shattered. TF 501 met with Second Mechanized Division and our soldiers swept straight into the flanks with infantry and Knightmares disappearing in the jungle to make sure the fleeing enemy wouldn't be able to regain any semblance of coherent force. They also acted as spotters for indirect fire so the artillery could more effectively prove why it was called the King of Battle.

The best thing was that we had a corridor through which the rest of my people could pull back, hopefully long before Chinese ground forces could reach the area.

There was no finesse to the rest of the battle; merely a slugging chaotic slaughter among the trees where small groups of the enemy did their last stands in a somewhat successful attempt to buy some of their comrades time to flee.

The air-cavalry did miracles by cutting off large groups of enemy troops. The enemy was located, pinned in place and either surrendered or annihilated by a combination of close assaults, artillery and air-power. I made the call – with the Chinese feeding more and more fighters in the grand melee above there was no longer a point in keeping the remaining bombers in reserve. They would never make it to the border and back in one piece.

By all reasonable accounts, we achieved a stunning victory. It took a single night to shatter a whole army group. Two thirds of them were either dead or captured with the rest taking flight. But the price, oh the price... Four divisions, roughly half Brightman's force were gutted in the savage fighting. Our air-force was being slowly ground down and there were more and more Federation planes appearing overhead. Already enemy air-strikes were coming through no matter what our air force could do.

At least the Chinese targeting systems sucked forcing their bombers to come in close enough for AA systems to fire back effectively.

We had to haul ass, which meant we simply couldn't afford to finish destroying the Burmese. We had to abandon and destroy a lot of heavy equipment too – including a lot of ours that would have been perfectly salvageable if we had the time to recover it. As far as the troops we captured – disposing them was as an efficient war-crime as either the Britannian or the Sith Empire ever committed.

I gave that order with Brightman's "blessing" and I felt absolutely nothing but weariness as I watched at Knightmare platoon hose down nearly ten thousand soldiers with HE rounds... Soldiers that we couldn't leave behind for the enemy to liberate, because they would fight against us again, nor could we spare the transports to haul them with us back to the shore... It was a nice excuse, one that felt hollow when I repeated it to myself, yet I gave the order despite that. I didn't even feel the expected rush of pleasure and power thanks to the Dark Side. I just felt tired and wanted to sleep for a week.

By two in the afternoon we were already pulling out. There were roughly four companies of men missing in action and we couldn't spare the time nor the manpower to search for them. The same was true about at least thirty pilots who had to bail over enemy territory with more over ground we technically controlled. Some of the latter were lucky because air-cavalry helicopters swung to pick them up before heading for our FOBs, which were engaged in preparing for an evacuation too.

Victory? I had to keep telling myself that. One day I might even believe it, though I doubted it.

My principal commanders were on similar opinion. King, Lujiens and Flint did survive the night, though none of them was unscratched. The Brigadier got his Knightmare shot off from under him in the last minutes of the fighting and was lucky he just got his left leg mangled by spalling after multiple RPGs struck his machine. He might even retain the use of that foot if we could rush him to a proper hospital in time. Yet even his rank couldn't guarantee him a priority evacuation – there were thousands of soldiers with more grievous wounds who were being pulled back as fast as the choppers could haul them off.

Lujiens was already on his way home – he got his chest perforated mid-way through the savage fighting on the right flank when he had to lead his command section into the fray to plug a hole in the defences before the enemy could pour through. Seeing him fall sent the paras berserk and they did hold the line, if barely. At the end the fighting had been hand to hand and three battalions of both sides all but annihilated each other in the dark before the stunned survivors finally stumbled out of the jungle.

As bad as my people suffered, it was a pittance compared to what Brightman's troops had to endure. They did go above and beyond the call of duty, a testament of their trust in their commander and dedication to the Empire.

They paid for our victory with blood, lives and a long line of permanently crippled soldiers. What they all did should be heartening me but that was another thing I couldn't feel.

Flint's accusing glare as he nursed his shot up right arm didn't help either. I could feel his barely contained disdain. He knew that our victory was for nothing – the Federation wasn't deterred. The war was going to escalate and we had to get out of Burma, then out of Indochina as a whole before the Chinese could catch up to us. It was going to be hard to do under increasing enemy air-interdiction, though the cruise missile strikes on their airfields should help.

However, none of that might matter if our navy was kicked out of support range.

What a gods damned mess...

* * *

 **=ABKR=**

 **Part 2**

 **=ABKR=**

 **6 May 2009 A.T.B.**

 **Command bunker**

 **Gawain Naval base**

 **Cam Ranh Bay**

Nearly a week of running away, fending off the odd partisan attack, blowing up every bridge behind us and nearly constant Chinese air attacks took their toll, yet we made it. Recon flights had the lead elements of a Federation corps three days behind us, with its heavy units lagging two to three days behind those.

That was the good news.

I sipped from a cup of coffee that a naval ensign handled me while we waited for the Admiral in charge of the base – he was busy speaking with the fleet that was supposed to screen our evacuation from Indochina. That stuck in our collective crawls, Britannia wasn't supposed to retreat, much less run, however our position on the Asian mainland was nearly untenable. The Chinese had the best thing next to endless manpower you can find on Earth, most of the locals were hostile and there was a very good chance we might get cut off from supplies even if we left right now. That at least was already in progress – the port facilities were mostly operational despite multiple Federation air-strikes and two cruise missile strikes.

I breathed the scent of the coffee, then took a large gulp from it. It was hot, thick as syrup and sweet – just as our squids loved it; strong enough to bring the death back to live too and give the unwary a heart attack.

Around us, the command bunker was a hive of activity. Technicians manned rows upon rows of stations while doing their best to coordinate the sheer chaos of evacuating everyone and everything, watching warily for yet another air raid and then there was the situation out of sea... A large screen took most of the far wall showing a map of the region. At the upper age I could see edge of Hainan – there were a lot of red symbols over there complete with question marks. Our best intelligence was that a large part of the Chinese fleet was gathering in that area and they would be soon heading right for us. To make our lives more interesting, a decent part of the Japanese Navy got detected from the Philippines and they were coming here too.

Practically the whole Britannian Pacific fleet was either heading in our direction or would be once reinforcements and supplies meant to at least hold the Philippines got loaded back at the homeland and Australia. That was nice – but ultimately didn't help us at all. The Chinese and Japanese would hit us day before any meaningful naval reinforcements could get here. There were a few additional wings of fighters and bombers in transfer and they might make a difference – but that was it. We had only a bloodied Third Fleet to cover us with Seventh busy protecting the Philippines.

The situation was less than ideal.

A commotion coming from the Admiral's office got my attention. I could see the man stand up at attention and look very pale. The hell got to wrong this time?!

* * *

 **=ABKR=**

A couple of minutes later, when I got ushered in the Admiral's office, it became very obvious what got him so riled up. His computer screen was split in two showing the concerning face of my elder brother Schneizel to the right and my scowling father to the left.

Admiral Victor Stein stood at rigid attention beside me; there were rivulets of sweat falling down his ageing weathered face and it wasn't because of the heat. While everything else was going to hell, the AC in the bunker was running as if it was going out of fashion making the interior pleasantly cool, though you couldn't guess that by looking at the Stein's wet greying hair. I didn't need the Force or Veil's experience to tell that the man felt as if he was about to be taken out and shot against the nearest convenient wall.

"Delkatar!" Schneizel actually sounded relieved to see me in one piece. "It's great to see you're all right!" He even smiled.

"You failed." Father had enough displeasure in his voice to account for the admiral becoming a nervous wreck.

"Making the Chinese back-off was always a chancy proposition. We did shatter the Burmese army and would have annihilated it if not for their intervention." I pointed out making my voice sound as calm as possible. If father decided to play stupid games and hold my family responsible for the Chinese decision to attack... Cold anger and worry bubbled in my veins – more fuel for the Dark Side.

"That you did." The Emperor nodded. "My son. Victory does make up for a lot of sins. I sent you there to fix the problem, not to make the situation worse."

Remind me again, who had the great idea of staring a ground war in Asia of all places? I wisely didn't say that aloud.

"...I expect you to resolve the situation." Father was saying.

"What assets can I use?" I asked.

Father _smiled._ "Everything." He said in a tone that held just a hint of mischief, though I might be hearing things.

"Everything?" Schneizel and I parroted together.

"Delkatar li Britannia, I expect you to secure the Empire a continued and stable supply of Sakuradite To do that I'm placing you in charge of all Imperial forces in the region. Do not fail the Empire, my son." The left half of the screen flickered and the Emperor's image vanished to be replaced by the Empire's insignia.

"Gods damn it!" I spat.

"Delkatar, I'll speak with father... I..." Schneizel looked and sounded pole-axed by daddy dearest's latest stunt.

"Don't bother." I rubbed my forehead. Father knew of my past life as Veil. That man could have found a way to complete the task. Me on the other hand? By cheating the hell out of it I managed to win one large battle but that was it.

This was a bloody test, wasn't it?

Sakuradite. To secure a supply for the Empire I needed to take Japan in the face of two large mostly modern navies, possibly Chinese forces on the ground and I wouldn't be surprised if the Euros joined the fun in an attempt to kick us in the nuts while we were distracted... Speaking about them...

"Schneizel, what's Europe doing?" I asked.

"Debating if they should formally declare war on us."

Add a few task forces of the European Mediterranean Fleet coming through Suez and our positions in the Pacific might just get untenable, in which case I was screwed. More importantly, my family would be.

What would Veil do? I looked through the windows at the map. Japan was to the north-east, out of sight. That country was an island nation. We couldn't invade before suppressing their navy and the same was true for the Chinese one. We had to do that anyway in order to evacuate to the Philippines.

"What do you intend to do, brother?"

"Win." I deadpanned and Schneizel snorted. "Admiral, what is the status of our navy in the region? Do we have any remaining Thor munitions?"

My question made Stein's mind reboot and he finally looked somewhat coherent. "We're down almost a quarter of our escorts, one battleship, two battle cruisers and one light carrier. Two of our three remaining battleships are damaged, the same is true for our single remaining light carrier. The good news is that our fleet carrier is intact, however its fighter and bomber wings are at about fifty percent strength." The admiral's voice got steadier and calmer as he listed what we had left. "That's Third fleet. The elements of seventh at the Philippines..."

The Chinese had at least two carriers of Hainan, which at least got its two military bases plastered by Thors and regular cruise missiles and one of the Japanese ones along with its CBG was moving towards the Philippines to wreck as much of our stuff as they could. One of Seven Fleet's CBGs was there ready to meet it along with ground based air assets, though some of those were busy covering us despite the distance.

On the bright side, the Chinese capital ships, minus the carriers were much older than ours though not exactly obsolete, though that was a very thing silver lining. Would Battle Meditation be enough? Could I use it for long enough and over the necessary area to affect bout us and the enemy? Could I do anything about missile strikes against the fleet... That might actually be a firm yes. We weren't talking about space warfare here where the odds of successfully affecting an incoming attack through the Force usually weren't good and pointless compared to what Veil could do with Battle Meditation...

"Delkatar, our navy in the region is going to be outnumbered to an unacceptable degree. Get as many of your people to the Philippines as possible and wait for reinforcements. Meanwhile, I'll persuade father to see sense." Schneizel implored.

"I appreciate the gesture, brother." I wouldn't forget it.

"I don't like that look on your face."

I smiled at my brother. What I was thinking about could be considered even more suicidal that the 501st's baptism in fire...


	7. Chapter 6 Parts 3&4

**Disclaimer: I don't own either of the Code Geass, Gundam Seed or Star wars franchises. This story is not written with commercial purpose in mind. I make no money from it. It is not for sale or rent.**

* * *

 **Chapter 6: The First World War**

 **=ABKR=**

 **Part 3**

 **=ABKR=**

* * *

 **6** **May 2009 A.T.B.**

 **Admiral's office**

 **Command bunker**

 **Gawain Naval base**

 **Cam Ranh Bay**

I sat in front of Admiral Stein's desk nursing a cup of whiskey, courtesy to the nervous man. I suggested it as a way for him to soothe his nerves before suffering a heart attack after his close encounter with father. I was still unsure if the Admiral was fain of heart or if I should give credit to Charles for turning the man into a nervous wreck with a single short long-distance call.

At least the whiskey was all right - black label from the Royal Distillery in Kentucky.

Stein drained his glass, poured himself another and finally the nervous energy he radiated subdued a bit. "I'm at your command, your Highness. I apologize for this unseemly display." The man bowed deeply before sitting behind his desk. "What do you need of me and my people, sire?"

"Short overview of modern naval combat, detection ranges, etc..." I smiled disarmingly.

The Admiral stared at me for long seconds before groaning. "We're all going to die..." He muttered. "You've been trained as infantry officer, weren't you, sire?"

"That's correct." Veil did have a bit of experience with a naval engagements a long time ago, before becoming a Sith. That however was in an era of direct energy weapons and BVR combat at least as long as there wasn't a Neutron Jammer fucking up long range detection and targeting.

Stein looked at his second glass of whiskey, downed it too and poured himself a third for good measure. "The primary weapon in modern naval combat between peer opponents is a Carrier Air Group - CAG. In simple terms, a naval engagement consists of locating the enemy, especially their own carriers, then sinking them while protecting our own. Most other ships act as primary escorts or depending on the mission profile, naval based fire support. At least in theory, there are tactical conditions where carriers can be defeated by a battleship centric fleet - if they can catch a CBG during a storm bad enough to compromise launching and recovery of air assets of if friendly air power has caused sufficient attrition upon the enemy CAG. Needless to say, that is not something that can or should be relied upon. As the Pacific War demonstrated, old fashioned battle ship centered task forces have terrible time when facing carriers."

"Fair enough. I understand that there are two Chinese carriers and their battle groups converging at Hainan as we speak. They are the primary threat we need to neutralize to make an evacuation to the Philippines viable, are they not?"

"If our friends in ONI are right for a chance. As of four days ago, the third Federation carrier was way up north at least a week away. Their other two are in the middle of refit cycles and elements of Third Fleet did pelter their docks with cruise missiles before being forced back to cover us and avoid engaging overwhelming enemy forces. We won't need to worry about them in the short term. One of the three Japanese carriers is sailing towards the Philippines and the CBG from Seventh Fleet in the area to fend it off. We do have other elements of the Japanese navy converging on our position and are likely to strike at us in conjunction with the Chinese. Japan does have two more carriers they can deploy - one was north keeping an eye of the Federation and Russians up there and the other was two weeks away from finishing its own refit cycle - they'll rush that as much as possible."

"Submarines?" I inquired.

"Ours and theirs are out in force patrolling and hunting shipping. Locally we're at disadvantage. While we have the largest navy in the world, fully half of it is in the Atlantic keeping an eye on the Euros and a large number of escorts is needed to cover our trade navy and escort convoys. In the long run, especially if we can keep the Philippines, we should be able to starve the Japanese and cause the Chinese a serious amount of trouble even without setting a foot on the Asian mainland again." Stein sighed. "However, if they can defeat our naval forces in the region while suffering acceptable casualties, our hold on the region might become untenable, especially if the Euros jump in on the fun."

"Less than ideal."

"No offense to your person, sire, but you being put in charge of this theater of operations without any experience and training is quite worse than less than ideal." The Admiral finally showed a bit of spine.

He was right of course. Even with Veil's memories, my only viable option was to cheat as if there was no tomorrow and hope that it would be enough. I wasn't qualified for the job, however I couldn't decline it, nor could I fail.

"I do agree with you, however that is a moot point, Admiral. My father gave his orders. If we don't see them through, it won't be just me paying the ultimate price, but my family too." It was my turn to grimace.

"Pendragon politics." Stein spat.

Was that the alcohol speaking or did he finally find his balls? I might be able to use him after all.

"Yeah." I commiserated. "Admiral, tell me, what do we need to kill two Chinese CBGs if locating them is taken care off?" I asked.

"That's almost harder than actually taking them off!" Stein scoffed.

"Please, entertain my curiosity."

"Air assets to neutralize their CAP, enough bombers and multi role fighters to break through the escorts and strike the carriers."

I had to remind myself that despite what was available as cutting edge technology, we were still in the era of visual range air combat and bombardment. Without observers in place able to sent corrections, hitting a maneuvering ships at sea with what passed for guided munitions in this era was a pipe dream and that was before taking into account reasonably accurate radar guided AA and AA missiles with infra-red seekers.

As far as radar and radio guidance went, it was an open question how well that would fare against Chinese and Japanese jamming, which in practice left air strikes upon the enemy from visual range. It was the same issue with he cruise missiles - they could hit roughly the area they were supposed to but actually striking a specific target within a military base for example took a lot of missiles unless you had something like the Thors, FAEs - which were not ideal for use in our current generation of cruise missiles or nukes - and no one upon this Earth had the later.

"Admiral, assemble a strike package - every fighter and bomber that can get to Hainan and back to either here or the Philippines with a decent combat load on the way. Third Fleet's CBG as well. I want to know how long it would take. Leave locating the enemy to me." I was going to pull all the stops as far as divining the future went. "We'll be hitting the Chinese during the night. Oh, I'll need a two seater from where I'll command the battle."

Stein stared at me with open-mounted expression of horror. He glanced down at his third glass of whiskey, back at me and drained it in desperation.

* * *

 **=ABKR=**

 **Part 4**

 **=ABKR=**

 **7 May 2009 A.T.B.**

 **Sabre flight**

 **Kingdom of Burma**

"Sabre One, Sky-Eye Two. Incoming bandits, your four o'clock..." A gruff tired voice sounded in Major Maya "Rapier" Brightman's helmet. The sound was thick with the hiss of static caused by heavy jamming.

"Sky-Eye Two, Sabre One. Roger that, moving to intercept. Sabre Flight, Sabre One. Two, you're with me. Three and Four, Sky Eye will vector you in." The squadron leader ordered and banked right to follow the AWAC's directions.

Maya hit her Eagle's afterburners and acceleration pressed her back into her seat. A tired sigh escaped her lips. This wasn't right - after two weeks of combat against the Burmese Royal Air-force and another of fending off constant Chinese air-raids, she no longer felt the familiar joy of combat. What she lived for, what she loved most in her life slowly but surely became a chore. The Major glanced at her radar and frowned - it was a white haze as she expected to see. Jammers - Chinese and Britannian alike blanketed the airspace in the region. Her fighter simply didn't have the juice to burn through the interference and see anything beyond ten to fifteen kilometres; that was for ground, ship and AWACS mounted installations, which had space to mount not only much more powerful arrays but the power-plants needed to run them.

The "friendly" jamming coming both from the naval base where Sabre Squadron was stationed and that from Third Fleet in the sea to the west didn't help matters - when combined with the enemy's efforts, everyone's fighters and bombers had to fly blind guided by heavily escorted airborne radars or ground stations. Fortunately for Maya and her people, that particular game favoured the defender. Even better, this time the enemy came flying close to the shore, which meant Sabre Squadron was going to jump them with the sun behind them - and that was going to help, a little bit, with fooling enemy IR seekers. Unfortunately, with everyone and their uncle jamming as if it was going out of fashion, almost half of Maya's arsenal - the four radar guided Arrow missiles her Eagle carried, were practically useless. That left her with four heat-seeking Javelins and the cannon meant for dogfighting, which consider the less than stellar agility of her fighter wasn't something she was looking up for. She already had to use it three times since the Chinese joined the party and those were all adrenaline fuelled roller-coaster rides that almost got her killed. That's how Sabre Six - Mathew Banks got shot down behind enemy lines five days ago while they were escorting a bomber squadron on interdiction mission.

"Sabre One, Sky-Eye Two. Be advised, we've got more Bandits coming from the west. A major Chinese raid is in progress."

"When it rains, it pours." Sabre Four grumbled on the squadron's channel.

"Sabre Four, Sabre Two. Look it from the bright side - it's going to be a target rich environment." Two paused. "Again." Maya's wing mate's voice was thick with sarcasm.

"Sabre Flight, Sabre One. The more the merrier."

"Sabre One, Sky-Eye Two. We've got four Bandits, thirty kay's from your position. Returns suggest Dragons. Neither ground nor naval radars can see more bandits in your area. I'm vectoring you in..."

"Saver Flight, Sabre One. You heard the controller. Weapons hot. We're going in." Finally, Maya felt a surge of adrenaline and felt alive. It wouldn't last but she was going to enjoy it for as long as she could.

The AWAC's vectored Sabre Three and Four so they would find themselves coming at the enemy from behind once the Chinese detected and moved to engage Maya and her wing mate. With a bit of luck, thanks to the jamming everyone was throwing around, she and her people were going to get the drop on the incoming enemy. With the two groups of fighters approaching each other almost head-on, their combined speed ate the distance in no time at all. Finally, Maya's radar pinged announcing that it got a few vague ghostly contacts among the snowstorm of ECM it struggled to filter through. The distance was twelve kays and falling down fast. The radar returns were just good enough to tell her where the enemy was coming from but far from good enough for the Arrows to lock on them.

"Sabre One, Sky-Eye Two. Bandits detected you - they're accelerating your way. I'm vectoring Three and Four at their six. Gods speed!"

The Major switched on her thermal scope and soon enough the enemy got in range. More adrenaline flooded her veins, her training kicked in and she grinned. This was what Maya was born for! She could see the incoming enemy and she guided her Eagle so the leading Dragon fell squarely in the middle of her scope. Maya waited for a moment until she got a loud and clean tone from the missile and launched.

"Sabre One, Fox Two!" Rapier gleefully announced. Only then she banked sharply, hit the afterburner for all it was worth and triggered a spread of fiery chaff – she learned her lesson after the first engagement with the Chinese. If the enemy was in range of her Javelins, then she was surely threatened by the Federation's own heat-seekers.

"Fox Two!" Sabre Two shouted with just a bit less glee than her, a part of Maya's brain noted.

Two more identical announcements, that were barely audible over the static, followed from Three and Four. Maya's radar finally burned through the jamming and managed to lock get a solid returns from the Chinese fighters – for a few brief moments anyway, before Rapier dived below the incoming enemy who in turn were busy scattering to avoid the two prong attack. The sky lit up with more chaff from both Maya's wing mate and the enemy. A moment later, she caught the flash of a fiery explosion above and to the right.

"Sabre Flight, Sabre One, report status!" Maya snapped in her comm. Her radar's screen blinked in a fuzzy snow covered mess of ghostly returns and just a single solid one that was trying hard to get on her six. She dived sharply, let go of the afterburner and then levelled out briefly.

"Sabre Two, Sabre One. I've got a Bandit on my tail." Once she shed a bit of speed, Maya hit her air-brake bleeding off more acceleration in a desperate attempt to gain more agility. The Damned dragons were almost as fast as her Eagle, more agile, though their acceleration sucked in comparison. If Maya could only get into position to use that fact...

A screech came over her headphones – whoever spoke got their voice drowned in static. Her heart hammered in her chest and she hoped that it was an acknowledgement of her plight or even better – a confirmation that Two was coming to get on the Bandit's tail. Her threat receiver gave out a loud tone confirming what Maya feared – at this point-blank range, the radar of whoever could get on the enemy's six could actually lock on and guide an Arrow or the Chinese equivalent.

That was bad, potentially fatal unless Maya could get out of the enemy's sights and break the lock thanks to the Jamming trying to drown them all. She glanced back and got a glimpse of a dot behind – may Thor bless the designer who ensured that an Eagle pilot got a great view from the cockpit. While she was quite low already, Maya dived again and just in case released another spread of chaff behind. She headed straight for the shore bellow and a hill that stuck like a sore thumb from the water a klick or so off a golden beach.

"...ne. Sabre One! Bank hard left on my mark! I say again..." The voice sounded like Two but due to the static she wasn't sure.

The Major levelled her eagle dangerously close to the beach below, hit the afterburner and screamed for the hill. Her threat receiver screamed and she cursed viciously. Just a bit more...

"..k. MARK!" That was two, right?

Maya threw her fighter behind the hill in a manoeuvre that slammed her into her seat and drove the air out of her lungs. Her field of view narrowed to a narrow tunnel as her flight suit desperately fought to keep enough blood in her head to keep her from blacking out. Long second dragged out, while she fought with the controls for dear life until she was about to lose the battle with the high-gee manoeuvre and let go of the afterburner and gently got out of the crazy turn around the hill. As the acceleration and gravities pressing her down lifted, Maya breathed deeply from the oxygen supplied by her mask. Her vision cleared a bit and she snapped her head left and right searching for the enemy. She saw the distinctive shape of a Dragon scream behind, no longer on her six. The Major wasn't sure if the Chinese fighter was unable to accelerate fast enough to keep up with her stunt or if it was the Eagle gaining on its heels that persuaded the enemy to break off the pursuit.

Nor did she care – the important part was that Sabre Two made it in time and sent a missile on the heels of the running Chinaman.

"..ox One!" The radio screeched.

Maya's radar pinged another Dragon and she headed that way. However, before she could target it, a fiery bolt came over the sea and blew it up, scattering its burning wreckage over the waves.

That at least explained the sudden spike in Jamming – there had to be a Britannian ship nearby flooding the air with its ECM for all it was worth. For a moment Maya felt indignant that the damn squids butted in her fight, however she forced herself to calm down. Unless Three and Four got the last boogie, there was one more Dragon on the loose and her radar wasn't helping find it.

Suddenly the Jamming cut down significantly.

"... Sky-Eye Two. Sabre One, respond."

"Sky-Eye Two, Sabre One. I read you. Say again."

"Sabre one, Sky Eye Two. Bandits in your AO are down. Good work. Return to base. Command has a new job for you."

"Roger that. Sabre Flight, Sabre One, Report." Well, she survived yet another fight. The adrenaline drained from her body leaving her exhausted.

"Sabre Two, all green."

"Sabre Three, ditto."

A pause followed. "Sabre Four, Sabre One, report." The silence stretched out. Maya's radar continued to show just static and various ghostly returns that might be anything from two to eight fighters in the immediate vicinity alone.

"Sky-Eye Two, Sabre One. Do you have eyes on Sabre Four?" Maya asked, though she feared she knew the answer.

"Sabre One, Sky-Eye Two, wait one... I'm seeing just three Eagles in your AO... damn it..."

Maya closed her eyes and cursed softly. "Sabre Flight, Sabre One. Do you have eyes on Four? What about parachutes?"

"Sabre Three, Sabre One. One parachute visible. It's a Chinaman. No eyes on Four." Came the subdued response. The rest of the squadron followed suit and the news weren't any better.

"Sabre One, Sky-Eye Two. We'll dispatch SAR ASAP. Return to base – orders from up high."

* * *

 **=ABKR=**

 **AN: First attempt for semi-modern air-combat. Feedback please.**

 **We saw precious little air combat in CG – and that was really between floating Knightmares or battleships like the Avalon. The explanation I'm going with is that the Sakuradite and the currently existing cutting edge electronics in verse lead make ECM and jammers mounted on the ground, warships and large planes so powerful that fighters are forced to engage within knife range. While there are radar guided missiles, both air-to-air and SAMs, they're largely useless BVR if there is a large enemy electronic warfare platform in the area – which is almost always the case between peer opponents. In theory that should somewhat change by the time canon season one comes, but by then the Knightmares had proven themselves as the new Queens of battle and everyone is investing in them or in the case of the Empire – in floating battleship/carrier hybrids like the Avalon too. Thoughts?**


	8. Chapter 6 Parts 5&6

**Disclaimer: I don't own either of the Code Geass, Gundam Seed or Star wars franchises. This story is not written with commercial purpose in mind. I make no money from it. It is not for sale or rent.**

* * *

 **Chapter 6: The First World War**

 **=ABKR=**

 **Part 5**

 **=ABKR=**

* * *

 **8 May 2009 A.T.B.**

 **Command bunker**

 **Gawain Naval base**

 **Cam Ranh Bay**

People scrambled through the operation's area of the bunker like ants from a kicked anthill. Technicians and officers alike moved with a nervous energy that clung to every single Britannian in the whole base; even in these frankly insane circumstances, Stein's people rose to the challenge. The Admiral bit the inside of his cheek so he wouldn't snort at that thought – as if anyone had any other options when the Emperor himself of all people green-lit this insanity when he put one of his spawn in charge. Said madman was currently in his office for a private conversation with the homeland.

Victor secretly prayed in the Gods he didn't believe in that the brat finally saw a bit of sense and was begging the Emperor to be relieved of command, though he suspected his efforts were for naught. He knew the boy – not old enough to be a proper ensign, much less the esteemed rank that nepotism got him, was way over his head and it was going to be Stein's people who did the dying. He couldn't even hope that li Britannia would get himself killed – if that happened on his watch, the consequences didn't bare thinking about, because for some reason the Emperor appeared to like the little madman!

A figure silently came to stand beside the Admiral. They latched the controlled chaos for a few moments before the newcomer broke the silence. "Anything I need to know, sir?" Captain Lev Makensen, Stein's XO, asked innocently. "Are the plans finalized?"

Victor couldn't help it and chuckled bitterly. The mountain of a man towering a head and a half above him just raised an eyebrow a tiny bit. "That bad?" Lev whispered just loud enough to be heard over the constant low level noise of working computers and their operators.

"You already know the plan, Lev." Victor muttered just as quietly as his friend.

The large man blinked a few times while his body stood still as a statue. Seeing from the corner of his eye how his usually calm and laid-back friend flushing red with anger was not something Stein enjoyed experiencing. He had seen Lev enraged just a handful of times and that was a sight to behold. That was saying something, considering that usually Lev was an unflappable, inhumanly calm and patient man. Their last mandatory visit to Pendragon and unavoidable appearance at court that came with Victor's promotion to Admiral was a case of point – Makensen endured the hours upon hours of standing like sore thumbs in the Emperor's audience chamber surrounded by some of the most powerful and dangerous nobles of the Empire as if it was nothing; the same couldn't be said for Stein, who emerged from that little visit as a nervous wreck that Lev had to bring to the closest bar and dose with a few glasses of whiskey before the brand new Admiral could congratulate himself over his survival. It only made sense – the one time before he was at court it was when his father few from grace – Victor's old man blew his brains all over his office at home the same evening. He was very afraid that he might be left with little choice but to follow his father's example if he got home after li Britannia got himself killed – and that was if he was lucky. He could imagine trying to explain to the whole court how he allowed the little bastard to go get himself killed along with too many good men and women!

"There's no bloody plan!" Lev rumbled deep in his chest – a sound reminiscent of a grumpy bear that got its slumber disrupted by its next witless meal.

The Captain's words brought Victor away from the brief slip back memory lane.

"Sure there's one. Arm and fuel up every single combat plane we have and then send them on a glorious charge under the personal command of our resident prince!" Stein sneered.

A glare from his old friend stilled him and he took a deep breath and then slowly let it out. Then did it again and again a few more times until he had his fears under a semblance of control.

"I'm not jesting, Lev! That's the ingenious plan our new royal pain in the ass came with!"

The Captain stared at Victor for a long, long moment and shook his head in disbelief. "What does he think would happen? Get lucky and run into the Chinese?"

"I raised that point, so did the rest of our staff – only to have our concerns brushed away as if they were of no consequences!" Victor looked warily around – that last part came out louder than he intended it to. Luckily, no one but Lev appeared to have heard him.

"Does he know something we don't?" Makensen decided to give the royal the benefit of the doubt.

"I certainly hope so!" Victor's tone made it clear what exactly he thought about that possibility. The Chinese were somewhere off Hainan – as of two days ago. That was all ONI had on them and as far as anyone was willing to tell their Admiral, there was no new news about their location or intentions.

"Do you want me to have a word with the kid? He did look more sensible than most..." Lev wisely didn't say aloud who exactly li Britannia was supposed to be compared with.

"Perhaps you can get to him through that hard head of his..." Victor whispered hopefully.

The two of them glanced at the Admiral's office where li Britannia was speaking with someone over a secure channel.

"Let's just hope someone back home knows more about what the Chinaman's doing than us." Lev jested.

"That would be the day..."

* * *

 **=ABKR=**

'Nelly's tired face was a sight for sore eyes. My sister stared at me for long, long moments and eventually let out a sigh of relief.

"You're alive." She deadpanned and narrowed her eyes at me in that fiendish way that as a child was all the warning I got that I had to run the few times I really pissed her off.

Potential Sith in the making or not, that expression made me bloody nervous.

"That's why I'm calling!" I waved nervously.

Veil was probably rolling in his grave at my antics – if there was enough of him left to bury. That was me – Delkatar li Britannia, a disgrace to every self-respecting Sith, who were all hopefully in a galaxy far, far away, a long time ago and safely dead for aeons. One can hope, right?

"You look to be at one piece at least." 'Nelly's expression softened.

"I'll remain that way until tonight too!"

On a second thought, that might not have been the best thing to say. Where's that Sith stoicism and level-headedness when I needed it? Oh, none of that was a typical Sith trait, right. I think the Force was laughing at me too, because right not it just sat there. Observing or just lethargic?

"What trouble did you get yourself in this time?" My sister asked.

"You haven't heard?" I asked hopefully.

"I've been busy. I do have an army to run, if it hadn't slipped your mind." Cornelia snipped at me. Not in the best of moods. Perhaps it was the time – I forgot to check the time-difference. "All I know is that the Federation declared war. Explain. Now." My sister ordered in a no-nonsense clipped tone.

I did so – as fast and with as few words I could manage. "We won the battle with acceptable casualties. The Chinese joined the war as you should know. We got away to our bases mostly intact. Father put me in charge of the whole Pacific Theatre of Operations."

'Nelly face-palmed and muttered something I couldn't hear. "You aren't yanking my chain, are you, little brother?"

"I believe it is a test from father." I shrugged. What else was there to say?

My sister straightened up and removed an errant purple hair from her forehead before focusing her complete attention on me. "That makes sense." She said in a deadly serious tone.

"That's the other reason I'm calling – to give you a head's up. I find it unlikely that I'll be able to keep my abilities under wraps for much longer. The Worst case – it can come out tonight. Please, make sure Euphie and Mother are safe." I implored.

Cornelia sighed and shook her head at me. A chiding expression appeared on her face. "You know I'll do everything I can to protect them, Delkatar. What are you going to do?"

"Even the odds."

* * *

 **=ABKR=**

 **Part 6**

 **=ABKR=**

 **8 May 2009 A.T.B.**

 **Admiral's office**

 **Command bunker**

 **Gawain Naval base**

 **Cam Ranh Bay**

After I finished speaking with 'Nelly, who wasn't convinced I knew what in Odin's name I was doing, I relaxed in Stein's chair and opened myself to the Force. For two days now I spent every moment I could get away with submerged in my power exploring all the knowledge Veil had about divining the future, projecting his mind to distant places and generally how to use our gift for remote intelligence gathering. A lot of the more advanced techniques were beyond me at this time, however late last night I figured out I didn't really need them. All that I required of my power was to locate the Chinese fleet, preferably their carriers too.

You see, the sea is generally empty. Unless I knew someone and their Force signature very well I would have hard time locating them in a small city I was in, much less hundreds of kilometres away. However, and this was the important part, I wasn't searching for a particular Force signature. On the contrary – all I had to find was the clustered presence of people where there shouldn't be any – like in the sea off Hainan. Once I figured that out, finding the rough location of the enemy fleet took just a few more hours. With that done, the first critical step of the plan was successful – which in turn meant I had to spent most of the time between then and now fending off polite requests to see sense or at least make some kind of sane plan – one that didn't require for me to lead the bulk of the Britannian Air Force in the region on what everyone believed would be a suicide flight in the unknown.

Obviously, by the time I managed to get a line to my sister, my patience with the people I was in charge of was mostly gone. Oh, I knew where they were coming from. In their shoes I would be doing the same, probably planning to "accident" the crazy bastard preparing to lead a suicide mission for no good reason. My issue was that I couldn't tell them the truth and my paper thin excuses of need to know and intelligence from the homeland wasn't really cutting it. I was pretty sure that only gently using the Force to figure out what exactly to say was the only reason no one had tried to arrange an accident for me and damn the consequences.

Yet was the operative word there and because of that I was glad that the hunt for the Chinese fleet would start in couple of hours. I sent my mind drifting through the Force to confirm that there were no major changes since the last time I did it – the vague impression of clusters of people in the middle of the sea was in the general area where I was expecting them to be.

I smiled and let go of the Force. Given the difference in speed between major surface ships, fighters and bombers, the Chinese had no way to get away safely even if they started running right now. The big question was could we get close enough to them before they figured there was a major raid in progress and scrambled every single fighter that could make it to the region – unfortunately we were going to find out if that was the case or not the hard way.

I couldn't wait to leave – preferably before someone decided to try to frag me on general principle.

While thinking of officers doubting my sanity and ability to command, a pair of them just headed this way. Stein and his XO – who could actually give some Wookies Veil has seen a run for their money in the size department, walked in with concerned expressions on their faces.

"Admiral, Captain." I greeted with a forced smile.

Meanwhile, internally I was chanting that I must not Force Choke either of them, despite how bloody annoying they could get! This was exactly the wrong time to deal with dissent in the ranks... How to play this!? I scrambled for answers until my eyes ran over the computer I used to call 'Nelly.

"Sir!" Makensen saluted crisply as if he was a marine. Scratch that, since becoming the 501st CO, I've seen marines with sloppier salutes.

I returned the salute and grinned. This time it was even genuine. "Good news, gentlemen! I just got the rough area where the Chinese fleet was a few hours ago." I creatively interpreted the truth. "We're going hunting."

Whatever those two expected me to say, this wasn't it. They actually perked up and the cloud of gloom and doom that hang over Stein ever since he spoke with my father – with the brief exception of the few hours he spent plastered after that little chat, suddenly lifted.

"That's a great news!" The Admiral stammered and smiled nervously.

"The designated squadrons are ready for deployment I hope?" I did cut off those orders hours ago after all.

"All fuelled and are currently arming and undergoing final checks." Makensen reported dutifully. His voice was calmer than a Jedi's, however I could acutely feel how relieved he felt at the news.

Huh. Was it desperation that made them buy my words at a face value without demanding details? Perhaps they were grasping at straws as the saying goes.

At any rate, it was a good thing that I spent hours making sure I could plot the general search area on a map in preparation for tonight's operation. Otherwise, things could have got mightily awkward, especially considering I already sent most of our fleet elements in the region sailing towards Hainan thirty hours ago.

"I need a map." I demanded. "We have to cobble together a briefing." I blithely ignored that my original plan called for just ordering the fighters and bombers to follow me in the night on blind faith and fear of the reprecusions of refusing...

That wasn't one of my best moments, but thankfully I didn't say that aloud. On the downside, playing things too close to my chest did cause almost everyone doubt my sanity and qualifications to lead...

 **=ABKR=**

 **9 May 2009 A.T.B.**

 **Pilots briefing room**

 **Gawain Naval base**

 **Cam Ranh Bay**

Maya scowled at the far wall where a projected map showed two large circled areas of water. This was why she had been grounded for over a day now? A glorified babysitting gig watching over a bunch of heavy, slow and blind bombers stumble in the dark?

The pilots of said glorified bomb buses, who sat to the right, didn't like it either by the disgruntled sounds they were making. A night attack on not one, but two enemy CBGs!? Even if the Chinese ground based aviation got grounded for some reason, breaking through all the escorts and the thirty or so fighters each of those carriers should have was going to take Loki's own luck!

"Questions?" The terribly young and even more terribly cheerful man who gave the briefing asked.

The first answer he got were the combined punishing glares of nearly three hundred pilots. However, for some reason no one voiced their displeasure besides some level of angry grumbling. Maya looked around in confusion – she knew some of these pilots and they tended to say what was on their minds when some bloody REMF thought up a plan that would get most of them killed for no good reason. Maya waited a few more seconds for someone to find their balls and when they suffered a critical failure at that task, she glowered in all directions before getting to her feet.

"I do...!" Brightman's tone was just the right side of disrespectful. "Sir." She added after the briefest of pauses.

"And you are?"

"Major Maya Brightman, CO, Sabre Squadron." She introduced herself automatically. "I do have a few reservations about this plan. It's very thin on details."

The plan was bare-bones at best – fly in three waves – fighter screen, bombers with escorts and another group of fighters flying CAP between the strike force and the Chinese mainland. If practical, attempt multi-axis attack once the enemy fleet is located, if not – hit them like a sledgehammer.

That was it.

"Well, Major, we kinda lack enough detailed Intel for a more detailed plan. At this moment, the two Chinese CBGs are moving in to link together – which will happen in less than thirty six hours – if we're lucky. We need to hit them before that happens and tonight is going to be our best chance. The _Essex_ is launching its AWACSs as we speak and they will do their best to locate our quarry while we're still en route."

"I see, sir." Yep. Bloody fool of a REMF. Maya was going to figure who that bastard was and if one of her people didn't make it through this suicide of a mission, she was going to end him!

* * *

 **=ABKR=**

Scratch that, the bastard responsible for this was going to die! Maya glared balefully at the plane waiting for her.

It wasn't her Eagle damn it but a two seater command Falcon. She was more than qualified for it – it was the bird she flew for her first two years after the academy, but that didn't matter! It wasn't her lovely Eagle!

"Major, I'm glad you made it!" A familiar, too cheerful voice exclaimed from behind her.

Maya whirled around and opened her mouth to bit off the head of the bloody fool who... She stood so straight that her spine felt a pole and snapped to attention before her conscious mind could register what her yes were telling her – the Admiral in charge of the whole base was right here, standing a step behind the cocky bastard who gave the briefing. That little REMF was grinning at her like a fool and wore a pilot's suit. He held a helmet too...

There was no way the Gods were this vicious... Right? Why her?

"Major, I don't believe we got properly introduced. Colonel Delkatar li Britannia – acting theatre commander for this little war of ours at your service. I understand you'll be my pilot for tonight's little exercise?"

li Britannia?! Maya looked hopefully at the Admiral. This had to be some kind of joke, right? Perhaps she got shot down by the Chinese and this was her sorry excuse for an afterlife?

Admiral Stein just shook his head. Was that a commiserating look he sent her? Then the family name finally registered properly. Li Britannia. Oh. Maya blanched.

The prince just smiled and said something, but his words got swallowed by the roar of launching planes.


	9. Chapter 6 Parts 7&8

**Disclaimer: I don't own either of the Code Geass, Gundam Seed or Star wars franchises. This story is not written with commercial purpose in mind. I make no money from it. It is not for sale or rent.**

* * *

 **Chapter 6: The First World War**

 **=ABKR=**

 **Part 7**

 **=ABKR=**

* * *

 **9 May 2009 A.T.B.**

 **South China Sea**

A swarm of bombers shepherded by an equal number of escorts roared low above the waves illuminated only by a scattering of stars shining like tiny jewels from breaks in the cloud cover. Forty odd kilometres ahead, a screening force of fifty-three fighters flew in front of a Skyhawk AWACS from the Essex, ready to challenge the Chinese carrier air wing. To the west, yet more Britannian Eagles flew as a screening force ready to meet anything that came from the Federation mainland.

In another world, the enemy fleet would have been in range already – jamming and ECM simply wouldn't have been potent enough to make radar guided missiles moot. The chosen time of the attack took out of the equation the Empire's primary answer to that thorny issue – image-guided munitions, which unfortunately weren't capable of reliable operation at night time or bad weather. There were rumours of new electronics and avionics changing the status quo of naval and air warfare, however any such systems, if they actually existed, were still either on the drawing board or in prototype stage back in the homeland.

Nevertheless, there were always a way around even the best defence – especially if someone was willing to get close enough. It was just that any potential attacker aiming at a carrier, first had to run a gauntlet made of its air wing and escorts and the latter were very capable of detecting and engaging fighters and bombers far beyond their effective range, especially at night.

First to notice the approaching threat was an outlying Chinese picket – a Type 30 Frigate. The moment its CIC watch figured out exactly what was coming their way, the ship lit up all its sensors – though that was long moments after a warning to the rest of the CBG went out. Soon powerful radar located and logged in the incoming threat. In doing so, the ship nicely lit up itself for the Skyhawk trailing behind the fighter squadrons. While the fighters lacked the sensor capacity to handle the powerful jamming and ECM broadcast by the Frigate, the much larger AWACS wasn't so limited.

When all was said and done, there were both advantages and disadvantages to ship-borne radar arrays compared to those in land based installations. Even turbulent sea was usually a much nicer and easier environment to work than any mountainous region for example. Ships could move too, a not to be dismissed advantage when survivability was concerned.

Ships were quite large metal contacts with all kinds of reflective surfaces. In this particular Frigate's case – it couldn't afford to shut down its sensors – it needed to track the incoming enemy and watch for a follow up wave. Further, it needed to thing up the swarm before it could come closer to its charge – the carrier two hundred kilometres away.

Finally, all the jamming in the world couldn't hide it while its search and targeting radars were up and blasting at full power. Not from a Skyhawk anyway – the incoming fighters' radars were a fuzzy mess and would remain so until they got much, much closer.

Unfortunately for that particular Frigate, the possibility of those Britannian fighters running into a picked ship was considered and taken into account. While forty-eight of them were Eagle air-superiority planes, the rest were Falcons armed with anti-radiation and anti-ship munitions. Ten Cyclops missiles detached from the larger strike-fighters and followed the siren song of the Frigate's search and targeting radars.

There were a lot of ways to deal with the current generation of anti-radiation missiles – the simplest of which was to simply stop radiating those nice and obvious radio-waves and in the case of mobile installations – like ships for example, promptly displace. Really, that initial missile strike wasn't meant to actually hit the Frigate – merely force it to go blind for a time if it wanted to avoid it. That would buy the Britannian fighters time to come closer and give the Falcons an opportunity to deploy their anti-ship munitions without running a gauntlet of SAMs all the way in, until they got into the range of shipborne IR equipped missiles anyway.

The Frigate didn't shut down its radars and instead returned fire. A spread of radar-guided missiles, led by the ship's powerful on-board installations screamed into the night and headed for the incoming fighters. The fighters forged on, seemingly ignoring the danger and the following Skyhawk entered an electronic duel with the enemy Frigate. Shoals of false images flooded everyone's radars, got cleared only to be replaced by static that had to be compensated for. Back and forth the duel went, until the incoming missiles passed an invisible threshold where the less capable, smaller system carried by the AWACS could finally fight at even footing due to relative distance between the ordnance and the two EW platforms.

One after another the missiles began losing tracks after their data-link with the Frigate that launched them got disrupted. A few regained it only to lose connection again, others went into autonomous mode and now had to rely on their orders of magnitude less sophisticated and powerful on board radar. Only then did the lead squadron went evasive. A single missile somehow retained its data-link and went for the kill while another got lucky and its on-board radar managed to lock onto a real target instead of a false image projected by the Skyhawk. A pair of explosions lit up the sky and fifty-one fighters continued to fly towards the Chinese CBG.

The next part of the duel went for the Britannians – just a single missile was able to actually target an Eagle, however the pilot managed to get away through a reckless dive towards the sea; the pursuing weapon lost track and slammed through what it believed to be a nice juicy bomber but was in fact merely just a trick played by the Skyhawk's operators.

The third missile salvo was also the last made of radar-guided munitions. After it reached its targets, the Chinese frigates shut down its active sensors and went wildly evasive. Still, the Frigate made if count and the burning debris of five Eagles splashed in the waves.

Unfortunately for the Chinese, they cut it a bit too close – two of the Cyclops got close enough that on-board sensors could lock on the nice large metal contact trying to pretend it had never heard of radars. To add insult to injury, a crew-member messed up. No one ever knew or particularly cared if it was merely miscommunication or an honest fuck-up. What mattered was that the automated point defence was still online. It had radar of its own too – and that one did light up to engage the approaching threat. To its credit, it managed to splash the two closest Cyclops. However, at the same time, its radar acted as a siren song for the remaining anti-radiation missiles and they homed on it. Four more got blasted out of the sky, another flew just above the deck merely scorching the paint. A missile slammed into the PD emplacement turning it into confetti and the remaining two missiles slammed into the superstructure wreaking havoc and spreading even more burning fuel all over the ship.

Despite its wounds, the Frigate managed to splash three more fighters with IR seeking missiles before a combination of anti-ship ordnance launched by the Falcons blew it out of the water.

If its radar had remained on for a few more moments, the Chinese ship would have detected the sea-skimming bombers heading straight for the carrier it was protecting. Without that knowledge, Federation commander had to keep a part of its fighters behind in case this was just a diversionary attack meant to pull away its fighter assets. Still, fifteen Wyvern naval fighters and the rest of the escorts should have been more than up to the task of dispatching forty or so enemy planes...

* * *

 **=ABKR=**

 **Part 8**

 **=ABKR=**

 **9 May 2009 A.T.B.**

 **Sabre flight**

 **South China Sea**

Only the roar of the engines could be heard in the Falcon's cockpit. The opening move of the battle was over – ten fighters in exchange for a Chinese Frigate. It was a bargain too – from what I learned of naval vessels, such a ship should have been able to kill more planes before going down, though those estimates came from wargames where whole task-forces got hammered by air-power or so I was told. A lone picket Frigate outside of support range of the rest of the CBG against fifty fighters – I was just glad it didn't shoot down more. That fighter screen was going to get hammered even worse as it approached the main body of the enemy fleet and the Chinese CAP. They were bait to make the enemy expend missiles and planes and thus soften the CBG for the bomber strike, which we were part of. I didn't expect many of the vanguard to make it back and they knew it too.

However, there was something I could do to make their sacrifice count – and give a few of them a chance. It was time anyway.

"Overlord Actual, Sky-Eye One. Radars just lit up all over the place. We've got a tentative fix on what we presume to be the target – the jamming there's the worse. You're right on the money. Correct course five degrees to the west. Gods speed."

Essex's other two Skyhawks, along with their own escorts, were moving forward too in an attempt to level the field as much as they could. One was in front of us and we would soon overtake it and the other was to the east. A larger, more capable AWACS hung between us and the Chinese mainland in support for the blocking force screening our flank.

I closed my eyes and the lit up displays of the cockpit vanished. The drone of the engines became a distant, inconsequential thing when I opened my mind to the Force and let my perception expand beyond human comprehension. An intangible link formed between me and my grumpy pilot; our wing-mates followed a heartbeat later. I fed more and more power into the technique and it grew by leaps and bounds. Very soon the Force linked me with the crews of the whole sixty strong bomber force and their escorts. That's where I paused to gather my power and relish in the sensation of becoming one with my soldiers, my people. We were of one purpose, one will and we would not be denied!

Cold shivers went up and down my body as I channelled more and more of the Force through every fibre of my very being. The energy made me feel unstoppable – which unfortunately was a nice white lie by the Dark Side. I focused all that power channelled it back into the Battle Mediation. I groaned when my perception expanded further and further.

The Skyhawk in front of us was next. I could sense its crew suddenly moving as one, energized and aware exactly what each of them and everyone else already under the influence of my technique was doing.

I got a few seconds to brace myself before the next group of people got connected to the gestalt I was busy crafting – that was the other Skyhawk with its two escorting naval Eagles and then the pings came one after another. First the last carrier based AWACS, then the rest of the advance force – which was down to thirty four planes already due to long range SAMs launched by enemy cruisers.

A heartbeat later, Chinese ships – their crews, followed. A Destroyer, couple of Frigates, a Cruiser... A human mind shouldn't be able to process the thousands of connections that Battle Meditation established between friends and foes alike. Strictly speaking, mine didn't – not really. A lot of the heavy lifting got outsourced to the Force herself. She wasn't just a source of my power but what made most of the feats attributed to Jedi and Sith alike possible in the first place.

I knew that – intellectually, but it didn't really hit me until this time. Here I was able to concentrate just on the Battle Meditation, without the pressure of actually commanding a battle. I already gave my orders and all that was left was to play support through my gift. Somehow, that left a part of my brain free for such an odd reminiscenting, perhaps it was the relatively low number of people I was influencing right now, compared to what I did back with the 501st.

Those odd thoughts nearly broke my concentration when one of my people died – I perceived his plane blowing up through the eyes of her wing-mate. I felt the woman's death more clearly than any during the battle in Burma. It was as if I was paying attention on her in particular when a missile turned her and her Eagle into an expanding cloud of burning metal. I felt a moment of searing heat and shock, then Lieutenant Irina Myers was just gone but for an echo carried through the links I had with everyone under the sway of my power.

That shock shook me. I felt the Battle Meditation begin to unravel and I scrambled to keep it in place. I had to wrench at the Force for more power. Anger at myself for getting distracted by inconsequential thoughts, at the Chinese for murdering one of my people, Irina's own final shocked emotions – it all fuelled the Dark Side and I drank deeply from her tainted well. The temperature in the cockpit plummeted and the shadows deepened, accidentally making the control panels look like distant stars.

I felt Maya's shock when sudden and unexpected chill gripped her whole and sunk into her bones. She flinched and when I put the Dark Side's own power into the Battle Meditation and its cold embrace touched her very mind along with those of friends and floes alike for hundreds of kilometres around me. The plane shook when the Major flinched at the weird, impossible sensation, but she soon retook control – the same happened across my whole force.

The Battle Meditation held, which was the important part, even if it wasn't behaving as it should have had, but that was a problem for after the battle was won. The advance force hit their afterburners and separated to go after an approaching enemy squadron. An unanticipated benefit was that while connected by Battle Meditation, my pilots could perceive what the radar operators on the Skyhawks could see. While the jamming was fierce, my people could get glimpses from the enemies they were going to engage as well as those who were about to attack them – which was how the impossible uncanny coordination and response to enemy actions actually worked.

The one thing that my power couldn't do was make missiles see and target the Chinese planes before our own came into a knife range.

What followed was plain and simple bloodbath. It was just that thanks to my Battle Meditation it wasn't as one sided as it would have been otherwise.

Twenty Eagles got through a gauntlet of radar-seeking and IR missiles and reached the first enemy squadron launched by the Chinese carrier and at least half of them did it because the uncanny coordination and perception granted by the Battle Mediation. That by itself wouldn't have been enough – a launched missile didn't care for any of that. However, the people running every single Chinese ship were no longer cohesive groups of highly trained and motivated professionals. They weren't on the cusp of combining two CBGs and going to kick the nasty imperials out of the South China Sea.

Instead, every Chinese sailor – from the greenest enlisted man to the admiral in charge, suddenly found themselves alone, scared and wanting to be anywhere but at their posts. A handful – those with the strongest willpower and belief in their cause pushed through and continued to execute their duties with some ability. Those were few and far between, worse, they too acted as individuals able to handle just their own little corner of the world; the Battle Meditation wouldn't allow them any larger victory – the technique was insidious like that.

What should have been coordinated missile strikes meant to wipe out forty of our fighters out of existence, preferably even before the carrier wing could engage them, turned into ragged, uncoordinated affairs, guided half-heartedly at best...

* * *

 **=ABKR=**

 **9 May 2009 A.T.B.**

 **Thor squadron**

 **South China Sea**

"Thor's blessing is with us, lads! Have at them!" Hammer Two, more commonly known and Rico Jorgensen – who despite his family name had skin darker than the night outside, roared gleefully.

He hadn't felt more alive in his whole life! This night was proof that the Gods existed and the Empire had their blessing! Rico could feel power coursing through his veins. He knew what the rest of his squadron was doing – minus their CO, captain Mike Arik, who ran afoul of a Chinese missile. The lieutenant could sense what the enemy pilots intended to do, even better, he could practically smell their fear!

"Three with me. Four and five, go after that bastard on the far right. Six... One and Six, keep our places in Valhalla warm, my friends..." Jorgensen muttered a quiet prayer.

He was right! The enemy was disorganized and terrified! Instead, of acting as a proper squadron – as the days of combat that led to this night proved the Chinese could, each of the enemy pilots was doing their own thing! One was even running away at full afterburner!

Thor's blessing was really potent stuff then! Rico grinned and flew into the fray. The ensuring fight – if you can call it that, was at knife range and thus short and vicious. While three of the Chinese cowards went down without an issue and the forth ran away like a cur, the other two found their balls and managed to take out one of the two remaining Falcons before multiple heat-seeking missiles erased them from the sky. Three more Eagles died due to SAMs and only one pilot managed to bail in time – Rico could feel his comrades deaths and that only served to sent him into a frenzy! He was aware that the blessing affected the rest of the pilots too – he could vaguely feel them in the back of his mind and knew what they were about to do! With a sudden realisation, Jorgensen figured out that right now he didn't actually need to verbally communicate to coordinate.

He did so anyway!

"All vanguard elements, Hammer Two! Form up on me! We're going hunting!" Rico knew that what he intended was likely suicide – yet if it worked it was going to pave the way for the incoming bomber force. He could sense it approaching from behind – it was like a steadily growing ball of soothing light and Hella's icy grasp!

Thirteen Eagles and a single Falcon lived long enough to head for the enemy carrier and the rest of its air-wing, which was already in the air and approaching fast.

"Come with me! Valhalla awaits!" Rico was still laughing like a maniac when a radar-guided missile sheared off the rear third of his Eagle. He managed to punch out just in time to watch how his trusty plane turned into an expanding fireball below him.

 **=ABKR=**

 **9 May 2009 A.T.B.**

 **Sabre squadron**

 **South China Sea**

"Aesir One, Thor One, Overlord Actual – pull to the front and move to engage the CAP. The rest of the escort squadrons, maintain formation..." The last of the people I sent on a one way mission we fighting for their lives as I spoke in the comm. There was an angry edge to my voice – I felt each death re-vibrate through the connection and I was sure the same was true for the rest of my people. "Good soldiers died to give us this opportunity." Another Eagle blew up thanks to the AA of a Chinese cruiser. "They still are. Let us make this count!" I snapped more orders and they were followed even before the words could clear my mouth – I could perceive it through our connection.

Two bomber squadrons peeled off from the main formation along with appropriate escorts. They were going to clear our flanks from enemy ships – two modern cruisers, a battle ship, a battle cruiser and a scattering of frigates and destroyers. The rest of us were going straight for the carrier and once it was gone, we would peel off too and hammer the rest of the CBG while making our way out the area.

Originally I entertained thoughts of going for the second Chinese carrier tonight, however the odd way my technique behaved combined with the losses we suffered so far put a damper on that idea. We would get it sometime tomorrow, when we could have the benefit of TV-guided munitions during the day.

I dismissed any such thoughts and concentrated on the present. I could feel the vanguard dying – a combination of three fighter wings – no matter how disorganized and a constant attrition caused by the ships below saw to that. However, they managed to gut another Chinese squadron before the last remaining pilot had to eject moments before multiple missiles virtually vaporized his Eagle.

That left Aesir and Thor – who were intact, to face an equal number of shaken up, disheartened individuals. If it wasn't for the enemy ships that were already sending pot-shots our way, I would call it a wash.

"Orders, sir?" The Major asked.

This time there was no trace of doubt or thinly veiled disgust in her voice, nor the fear she felt when she figured out I was a Prince of the Realm TM. Maya's tone was all business – which corresponded to what I sensed coming from her. She believed that flying in combat was what she was born to do and she only felt fully alive when in the cockpit.

I could work with that.

"Keep guarding the bombers. We're going straight for the carrier." I smiled. "You could almost see it and the escorts that are in our way, couldn't you?" I asked.

"I... I have no idea what is happening, sir." She paused. I could feel her internal struggle.

"We're about to win. Just enjoy flying." I said and sent my awareness into the Battle Meditation.

There was no need for any-more words or verbal orders.

On our flanks, a squadron of Eagles flew close in front of two groups of six Gryphon bombers. Only the crew of one of the modern cruisers had the presence of mind left to target the real threat – that happened on the right flank. There half a bomber squadron died under a ragged missile barrages before the rest of the Gryphons avenged their friends. Six ship-killers detached from external racks and headed for the cruiser on the heels of ten lighter air-to-ground missiles launched by the surviving Eagle escorts.

The cruiser's close in defences were not hampered by my Battle Meditation – however they had to deal with a single anti-radiation missile sent by each escort fighter, the only one they carried. The PD did its best – it splashed down all but a single Cyclops, which took out one of the emplacements. Steel rain sheared through two thirds of the air-to-ground missiles before they could make contact and even if the modern cruiser was relatively thin skinned compared to the older models, much less the battle-wagons, it was still tough enough to survive just three relatively small hits above the waterline. However, the resulting damage was enough to shred sensors and take out more PD clusters. The remaining close in defences managed to detonate a single ship-killer a hundred metres away. The other five slammed into the cruiser just above the waterline. At least one found a magazine and the proud ship simply blew up.

With that cruiser gone, the most dangerous unit on this side of the carrier was out of the picture. I knew there was one more modern cruiser – which was sailing as fast as its propellers could push it our way, however it was more than forty kilometres on the wrong direction of our target to be any good. We were going to hit it once the carrier was done for.

Meanwhile, the Gryphons on the other flank had a field day. Despite some decent upgrades, the battle ship, two frigates and destroyer over there were less than a threat than the advanced cruiser that wiped out half a squadron of the best bombers we had – and that was when its crew was compromised to hell and back!

First to go was an unlucky frigate that found itself in the way of my planes. It managed to shoot down two fighters before the other four unloaded their limited amount of air-to-ground ordnance upon it. Close in defences thinned down the incoming barrage, but not enough to save the ship, which until just a few moments ago had been busy shooting at my vanguard force. I don't know if it was low on anti-air missiles or if the Battle Meditation hit its crew particularly bad, however after that initial strike the ship was left dead in the water and I could sense no hint of danger coming from that direction. The Gryphon pilots got that too and simply ignored the crippled ship.

The next target was a destroyer, which sailed in close formation to the battleship – just four kilometres away. It got the undivided attention of the bombers, which led to them flushing half their external ordnance its way – that made for twelve ship-killers and six Cyclops. The Chinese ship concentrated its attention on the fighters in front, which was where the battleship sent its attention too. The remaining escorts died fiery deaths and not a single pilot managed to eject. They were avenged moments later when half the ship-killers plunged deep in the guts of the destroyer and turned it into a burning floating coffin.

The battleship followed – the Gryphon unloaded all their remaining external ordnance upon it and then one of the two heavy missiles they carried in their internal bays. Meanwhile, someone on the armoured behemoth managed to acquire a single bomber and splattered it over the sea. Seconds later, multiple missiles pierced the battleship's armoured hide. Its number one turret became an inferno. Another missile tore a jagged burning crater into the superstructure and another one wrecked the rear VLS cells causing multiple sympathetic explosions when rocket fuel ignited. The last two ship-killers struck just above the waterline and left jagged holes and the South China Sea did its best to fill them.

A single frigate at extreme range managed to splash down yet another Gryphon before the remaining four could turn around and shoot what ordnance they had left at the crippled battleship. Only half that squadron made it home, however they did succeed in securing that flank.

Meanwhile, the air-battle if you can call it that, was already over. Two squadrons of naval Dragons were simply gone and unfortunately they took three of my Eagles with them with another four taken out by the battle cruiser and other close defenders around the Chinese carrier. The remaining five fighters managed to run away intact and turned to join us just as the main Gryphon body began its attack run.

There was a single capital ship, two destroyers and three frigates in effective range between us and our target. Not to mention the other modern cruiser approaching.

A Gryphon squadron went after the battle cruiser, another after the destroyers and a third for the frigates. That left me along with a much smaller part of the escorts covering the remaining eighteen bombers. A coordinated enemy fleet would have made a mincemeat of this attack, even if we could have reached the carrier, which was not out of the question – the ships in range did expend a lot of AA missiles already. It wasn't out of the question that even if everything went wrong at least one Gryphon squadron could have struck the juice target in the heart of the CBG.

Well, the situation was wrong – for the Chinese, even if they did shoot down an unacceptable number of my planes already. It was just now that I was beginning to comprehend just how disadvantaged fighters and bombers truly were when unable to engage targets from BVR but the reverse was true.

More of my people died underscoring that point. Every one was like a stab in my chest and left an echo of the fallen that carried through the gestalt created by the Battle Meditation.

I perceived an Eagle pilot desperately trying to screen his Gryphon charges. He flew fearlessly at a Chinese destroyer heedless of the incoming fire. He saw missile after missile coming his way and passing above a spread of ship-killers heading for the destroyer that was about to kill him. His name was Joyey Kubrick and his only regret was that he couldn't say goodbye to his sister. The last thing he saw was the Chinese ship going up in flames, then he tried to eject but was too late. A flash of fiery agony and all that was left of him was an impression dissipating among the minds of my people.

Ten seconds later, the battle cruiser got gutted by twelve ship-killers that struck in a single hammer blow. A moment later its front third simply disintegrated when a magazine went up and soon the broken ship would vanish under the waves.

The remaining escorts went up one after another, though they managed to reap themselves a small honour guard for Valhalla, then we were through. The Chinese carrier was futilely trying to run. Missiles streaked our way above it in ones and twos – too little too late to make a difference.

It was fucking worth it – that vicious thought consumed my awareness when three whole squadrons salvoed missiles as one at our target. Close in defences did their best and that was far from enough. I could actually see the carrier with my own eyes when Maya flew us above its burning gutted wreck – its deck was shattered, its island was virtually gone and it was listing, rapidly taking water. That sight warmed my hart. My people didn't die for nothing! And when did I begin to feel so possessive about these pilots!?

"Head for the cruiser." My words were superficial. The three mostly intact Gryphon squadrons with us already flew that way – it wasn't like we could get out of range fast enough not to suffer additional casualties anyway and besides that was one of the most modern ships in the Chinese navy. Taking it out now was, while its crew didn't know what the hell they were doing, was going to make our lives easier later. Five more planes went down – two Eagles and Three Gryphons, then the cruiser got swamped by ship-killers. When Maya flew us past it, there was almost nothing left above the waterline and from what I glimpsed, it the situation below wasn't much better.

It was done. I gently dismantled the gestalt formed by the Battle Meditation as we headed home. Only after carefully letting go of the Force I allowed myself a sigh of relief. Exhaustion held at bay by the sheer amount of power flooding my veins made itself known and I slumped in my seat held in place only by the straps and the constant acceleration.

Curiously, not a single Chinese fighter came at us from the mainland, though I would worry about that a bit later. First, I needed a bit of rest and time to figure out why the Battle Meditation got so weird this time around!

At lest we won, though the price... When my forces formed up for the trip home, only twenty-one Gryphins reported back – less than half of the number we started with. The screening force meant to cover us from a mainland sourced incursion was intact and that was the brightest news. The vanguard was gone to a plane, though the Skyhawk following them somehow managed to avoid enemy attention after I got my Battle Meditation running. That was true for the other two and their own escorts, which was another plus.

I grimaced. With the help of my abilities, we shouldn't have lost that many people and planes! Over eighty Eagles, all Falcons but the one carrying me, twenty five Gryphons... I seriously underestimated how outclassed small craft were. Veil's memories from his Earth or the one he found himself on later told me it shouldn't have been like that.

Why the hell did I concentrate so much on the carrier, considering how dangerous its escorts turned out to be? We should have gone for the rest of the CBG first – that might have resulted in lesser overall casualties on our side. Was it Veil's memories? They told me that the carrier was the most important piece in the CBG and taking it was essential. However, considering how good surface ships were at killing planes...

Damn it! I hoped I wouldn't be making any more such costly mistakes in the future.


	10. Chapter 6 Parts 9&10

**Disclaimer: I don't own either of the Code Geass, Gundam Seed or Star wars franchises. This story is not written with commercial purpose in mind. I make no money from it. It is not for sale or rent.**

* * *

 **Chapter 6: The First World War**

 **=ABKR=**

 **Part 9**

 **=ABKR=**

* * *

 **9 May 2009 A.T.B.**

 **Gawain Naval base**

 **Cam Ranh Bay**

Fire and oily black smoke engulfed part of the base. Men and machines scrambled to fight the man made disaster, while the few remaining fighters of the CAP screamed above in impotent fury. This was perhaps the heaviest blow the Britannian military took since the Pacific War and no matter how tragic, there was at least two people at Gawain who had mixed feelings about it.

Lydia Lombardi knew that what just happened while she and her cameraman were stuck at one of the bunkers was a tragedy. However, her mind couldn't get past how large an opportunity being the only reporter in the area would give her!

"Make sure to record everything!" She shouted to her cameraman and waved towards a row of burning hangars right across the airfield to the left. Only one of the five buildings looked intact while the others were obviously hit by something powerful that cracked their reinforced structures like eggshells. The burning remains of a large plane burned merrily nearby and despite its mangled wreck, Lydia was sure it wasn't a Britannian one.

That was good, great even.

"Make sure you catch both the hangars and that plane!" The reporter pointed. She took a moment to straighten her crumpled clothes, plastered a properly shocked expression on her face – that at least came easy after living through the Chinese air raid and looked straight at the camera before giving its operator a thumbs up.

"This is Lydia Lombardi at Gawain Naval Base in Indochina!" She raised her voice to be more easily understood over the drone of aircraft engines and various sirens that still wailed in places across the large base. "Early tonight a massive Chinese air attack struck the base for devastating results!" She waved dramatically at the burning wreckage behind her. "Just hours earlier, the majority of our air-force stationed here left for a classified mission of their own. There is a rampant speculation if our forces would be successful or if they were intercepted by the enemy before the Chinese struck here... More concerning, earlier tonight we received confirmation that our forces in Indochina are in the process of evacuating and abandoning the area!" Lydia had no trouble whatsoever demonstrating her righteous indignation at the very idea! The Britannian forces didn't retreat nor did they surrender ground! Doing so suspiciously smelled to what happened to the original homeland and was a big taboo among the military. "The officers in charge here are yet to give us an official statement and explanation to that stunning turn of events..." She continued to summarize what she had found out so far. Lydia only hoped that the censors at home wouldn't gut her work too bad, because this was stuff that made careers!

* * *

 **=ABKR=**

A few hours of recording fire-fighting, rescue efforts and questioning anyone willing to spent a moment or two in front of the camera followed before the roar of multiple jet engines came from the north east. There were no more alarms and no one scrambled for the bunkers, which meant that those were friendly. Lydia grinned like a shark. Now she was going to figure out where those people went while their base got plastered by the enemy! Unless they did something of note she was going to make sure they got raked over the coals back home!

The reporters hurried towards the airfields so they could record the incoming planes.

"Is it just me or are there a lot fewer than left?" Bruno, the cameraman, asked.

"There are, aren't they?" Lydia asked thoughtfully.

It was time for another shot with the fighters and bombers coming home as a background! With some runaways bombed by the Chinese and in the process of being repaired, a limited number of places were available for returning planes, which only served Lydia's purpose. Dozens of fighters and bombers had to come in for landing just behind it, which made for some great shot lit up by both fires and the base's lights.

"Behind me you can see our brave pilots return from their classified mission. It is obvious they have suffered casualties, however we sincerely hope they did succeed and thus avenged the treacherous Chinese attack that struck Gawain earlier tonight!"

* * *

 **=ABKR=**

 **9 May 2009 A.T.B.**

 **Gawain Naval base**

 **Cam Ranh Bay**

As soon as we approached the base, it became painfully obvious where the Chinese land-based air-power went. The whole place got plastered by the look of it. It was a very good thing that we were in the process of abandoning the place, that and the fact that my 501st and its most advanced gear was already en route to the Philippines with as powerful an escort as the fleet could afford to give our transports.

"Odin's balls!" Maya spat once it became clear exactly how bad the base got hit – hangars, fuel dumps, the vehicle park as well as part of the docks were hit bad. We finally managed to reach the base on short range radio – long range comms got knocked out too, a fact that made our return trip rather tense – we already knew that the base got hit, just not how bad.

There were a lot of fires outside Gawain too – from crashed planes, both ours and Chinese as well as struck radar and AA emplacements.

"Maya, you're temporally in charge of our remaining air-force in the area. I want every plane refuelled and rearmed for a naval strike and air-superiority. Get our bombers what TV-guided ship-killers are left." I looked through the canopy at distant fires where bulk of the munitions were safely stored. Those dumps were hit too, though the lack of secondary explosions told me that despite the fires, there were no penetrating hits. However, for the time being the ammo was unreachable, which left what little was stored for easier access in the remaining hangars.

"Understood, sir. What are you going to do?"

"Figure out who is still alive down there, do my best to straighten that mess and plan another naval strike some time in the afternoon. We're going to soften the second Chinese CBG for Third Fleet or go after the Japanese off the Philippines before re-basing most of our air-power there. We'll leave just enough fighters here to keep the sky contested until the evacuation is complete."

That and I needed time to process what happened tonight, speak with Stein if he was still alive and plan the next strike better. I made some assumptions and that got a lot of good people killed for no good reason – I should have targeted the Chinese escorts first instead of throwing everything towards the carrier. As the battle demonstrated, fighters and tactical bombers were at significant disadvantage against naval ships – they had to fly through at least three missile salvoes on average before being able to shoot back with radar-guided ship-killers. While the navy had a lot of IR and TV guided ones, the same wasn't true for the air-force, at least not in the Pacific. There were only TV guided and radar-guided air launched ship-killers and the former suffered in bad weather and were practically useless at night. With the weather being generally nasty the last few days, that didn't leave us many options. I only this afternoon we might get a break. Of course, there was the little issue that according to Stein the currently available TV guided munitions weren't particularly reliable at the best of times, which left Third Fleet seeking a relatively close range decisive engagement – there was a reason why everyone still had battleships and battle cruisers as a part of every notable naval task force, including CBGs. Simply put, a carrier air-wing or two usually lacked the capability to kill an enemy CBG even at the best of times. However, they could either soften it up for a decisive engagement or engage after the fleets met and mop up the enemy once it got through the cauldron of direct naval combat. That and the carrier wings were useful as scouts, AWACS escorts, ASW and merchant hunting.

That was something that should have rung large alarm bells in my head, however thanks to Veil's memories and my inexperience in all things naval I missed the glaringly obvious alarm signs – while important, carriers simply weren't the decisive weapon of modern naval combat, because for about half a decade now jamming and ECM had air-power neutered.

Damn it, what else did I miss or dismissed because I thought I knew better!?

* * *

 **=ABKR=**

 **Part 10**

 **=ABKR=**

 **9 May 2009 A.T.B.**

 **Admiral's office**

 **Command bunker**

 **Gawain Naval base**

 **Cam Ranh Bay**

Admiral Stein, his XO and a few members of their staff sat in Victor's office and stared at the retreating back of the insane Prince, who gave a succinct report on how the naval strike went and headed for the head; Victor was pretty sure li Britannia did it simply to give him and his officers a short while to digest what he told them.

"I can't believe it actually worked." Makensen shook his head. "I spoke with a couple of the pilots before coming here – they confirm they sunk multiple Chinese capital ships, including a carrier."

"It was still a damn fool idea!" Stein snapped.

"Two of the Chinese modern air-defence cruisers, at least one of their new frigates in the same role, a battleship, a battle cruiser, the carrier, multiple other frigates and destroyers." The officer in charge of Intelligence – Captain Karl Arnold, whistled. Compared to Victor's old friend Lev, the younger Captain, who sat next to Makensen looked like a dwarf. He wasn't really that short – though it looked that way next to the mountain of a man. Arnold made for his... challenged statute with broad shoulders and thick muscles that made him look like he could bench-press a Jeep. His blue, usually cold eyes, had a distant look in them as he spoke about the claimed sunk ships. Karl snapped out of his happy place and focused on the task at hand. "I still have no idea how the Prince got the location of the Chinese, however if the rest of his data is good, we should be able to get an air-strike at the other CBG before Third Fleet reaches them. If we can soften them, they will either run for it or if keep on coming we'll get a decent odds of victory."

Before the opening engagements with the Chinese, many would have called such talk defeatist. There were multiple cliques and schools in thought within the Britannian military, and according to one of the more prominent ones – which incidentally was made up by nobles who never came close to anything even remotely related with a peer opponent, Britannia had the most advanced weapons and best troops on the face of the planet. If someone listened to that group, General Brightman should have driven to the Federation border practically unopposed by the hordes of ill equipped Burmese troops and probably been able to drive to Beijing after running over more hordes, this time made by ill educated and motivated Chinamen.

While there were few belonging to that school in the Pacific – they tended to congregate on the homeland or the most prestigious and safe commands, there used to be an innate sense of superiority among the Britannian soldiers – enlisted personnel and officers alike. The Chinese capabilities, especially as far as electronic warfare went, came as a rude awakening. They were about equal to what the Empire possessed, which was a bad, bad news for every Britannian in the region – the cream of the air-force and navy were stationed in the Atlantic glaring at the Euros. That was a bad news, especially for the Air Force. While Britannia did have air-launched IR homing ship-killers, practically none of them were positioned in the Pacific. No one in the region was supposed to have EW capabilities equal to Britannia, which meant long air-strikes upon the enemy navies in the area should have been possible with good old fashioned radar-guided munitions.

This night proved that assumption wrong and there were whole squadrons of Britannian fighters and bombers missing as proof.

What Victor wouldn't give for a few dozen Reapers – the IR guided air-launched ship-killers! While both Third and Seventh Fleet had the naval variant on board their ships, that was a small comfort for the depleted Gryphon squadrons.

"There were some... discrepancies in what the Prince said and didn't say." Karl's gruff voice focused the Admiral's attention back to the conversation.

"I have to agree. The pilots I spoke with were in kind of a daze. If I didn't know better I would say they were high." Lev added. "However, they were adamant about sinking a battle cruiser, a modern AA cruiser and the carrier – they were part of the escorts covering the three Gryphon squadrons that either blew them out of the water or flew above the sinking ships on the way in. When the camera pods footage is ready we'll know for sure exactly what we struck tonight."

"The first AA frigate – the rest of the Chinese ships should have demonstrated somewhat similar performance, however once the main Gryphon force approached their fleet, the enemy's competence simply disintegrated and the Skyhawk EW efforts can't account for that. You heard the Prince when he briefly described the battle. Our boys and girls didn't face a fraction of missile salvoes they should have on the way in. Frankly, most, if not all, of the planes that went in should have been shot out of the sky." Arnold frowned. "Can we have overestimated the training and competence of the Chinese sailors? It is clear that their hardware is roughly equivalent to our own – especially in the air. We've skirmished enough with them over the past week to figure out that the hard way."

"That's more likely than our people receiving Thor's and Odin's own blessing during the battle as one of the pilots claimed." Lev reluctantly admitted.

"We have a few very pious pilots then." Stein chuckled at the very idea. "Karl, get the pilots debriefed and figure out what's happening with the Chinese navy. If there's something we can exploit, we need to know it yesterday." Or at least in the next thirty six to forty-eight hours before Third Fleet was in range to engage the Chinese. "Go." Victor waved as Captain Arnold and looked at his XO. "Lev, you'll continue to oversee SAR efforts as well as the evacuation. I need to know how long before we can safely access the ammo depots as well as updated progress on setting up the demolition of the base. Can we have everything rigged to blow by the time the last transport leaves?"

"Before the Chinese dumped a few tons of napalm and liquid Sakuradite on the ammo bunkers I would have said yes. Now? I'll get back to you once the fires there are extinguished and we see what's the damage. The good news is that obviously the bunkers themselves aren't compromised – we would have noticed if it was otherwise. However, my engineers tell me that the heat and explosions might have warped the doors and we might have to cut our way in once the area is safe enough. That might take time we simply don't have."

"At least make sure that all critical assets are either evacuated or demolished. If it comes to that, we'll have to use a few air-strikes. That's one thing I agree with the Prince without reservation – we shouldn't leave anything for the Chinese to examine if we can help it. Speaking about the ammo dumps – do we have enough ordnance to rearm the planes?"

"Most of the fighters apparently came back with most if not all of their weapons unused. The Gryphons on the other hand – we had various bombs and the TV-guided missiles ready in the hangars for faster rearming as the Prince ordered. We lost some of that ordnance along with said hangars, however we should have enough remaining at hand for the Gryphons that actually came back – about three and half squadrons all told." Lev answered.

"See to it, Captain. Now, onto li Britannia's 'request', we need to plan an air-raid with the TV-guided ship-killers against the enemy as well as make recommendation who we should go after next – the intact Chinese CBG, what's left from the one we struck tonight or the Japanese off the Philippines? Suggestions?" Stein asked his staff.

"Either the Chinese CBG or the Japs..." The Operations officer suggested.

"Reasoning? Not that I disagree – what's left from the first CBG would be in disarray and busy picking up survivors, including our shot down pilots. While blowing them up might be easier, spending planes and ordinance on them might not be the wisest course of action." Stein fixed the youngest officer with his eyes.

"The Third Fleet elements moving in to intercept the Chinese aren't in ideal condition. Taking out some enemy escorts, even just damaging them and thus degrading their capabilities would go a long way in evening the odds. On the other hand, if we manage to hit the Japs hard enough, the Seventh Fleet task force near the Philippines might be able to take them out and that opens the door for combining our naval forces in the area and going after the second Chinese CBG in force before enemy reinforcements could arrive in force. Either that or defeating the Japs might convince the Chinese to pull back and in that case our evacuation efforts would be secured and we'll be able to reorganize at the Philippines while awaiting further reinforcements..."

"Plausible analysis." If we win that is. While the Japanese navy was small, it was modern – they did have both the funds, infrastructure and naval tradition to ensure that such was the case. There was a reason that all the contingency plans for a war in the Pacific lately called for stalling for time until reinforcements could get to the Philippines. There were also rumours of substantial avionics upgrades across the board for all military forces in the works, though they were months, perhaps a year from seeing them in enough numbers to matter.


	11. Chapter 7 Parts 1&2

**Disclaimer: I don't own either of the Code Geass, Gundam Seed or Star wars franchises. This story is not written with commercial purpose in mind. I make no money from it. It is not for sale or rent.**

* * *

 **Chapter 7: Drums of war**

 **=ABKR=**

 **Part 1**

 **=ABKR=**

* * *

 **9 May 2009 A.T.B.**

 **CIC**

 **IJN Kongou**

 **South China Sea**

Four hours the mood among the sailors of the Second Imperial Japanese Fleet was tense, especially among those standing watch amidst the twilight of the CICs. The low light meant to enhance the contrast upon the various radar displays served to increase the gloom and apprehension of the Japanese sailors. A precious few of them paid little to no attention to the environment and were utterly concentrated on their jobs – most of those were veterans from the Pacific War eager to get some payback. However, many of their colleagues lacked the same fervour and conviction – all they knew was less than two decades ago, the Imperial Japanese navy ended up annihilated in years long, un-winable war. The only reason why the Home Islands remained mostly untouched was the threat of Chinese intervention – something that was still received with mixed feeling by the population.

Despite the best efforts of the military, the same mindset was prevalent amongst the crews of Second Fleet. Many of them were glad that they had the backing of the Federation in this conflict that almost none of them wanted, much less looked up to. That's why when rumours of a staggering Chinese defeat early in the morning began making their way amongst the crews, it hit their morale hard. An air-raid taking out most of a CBG? This wasn't the Pacific War! Such a thing should have been impossible, if Intelligence had at least a vague idea what the Britannians had in the region!

When the Admiral in charge gave orders to be on the look-out for an enemy naval-strike heading their way, that simply gave credence to the rumours and sent the crews buzzing.

Lieutenant Yoshi Shinoin was no exception. He was a history student – working on his doctorate sponsored by the Navy as a part of his contract and knew very well the disparity between the Imperial Japanese Navy and what the Britannians could bring to bear. More importantly, he knew the sheer industrial disparity between the two nations – his precious Japan had just the Home Islands to her name and the Sakuradite, which while a critically important resource that everyone wanted, simply wasn't enough to make up for Britannia's control over the Americas. Kami, even the Federation being on their side might not be enough – all the Britannians really had to do was wrest enough control over the sea-lanes to give their submarines free rein to starve Japan!

Yesterday, Yoshi would have sung another song. He knew that Japan had the newest and most modern navy – because they had to rebuild it from scratch over the last decade with only _the Kongou_ being left from before the Pacific War. However, yesterday, the Britannians hadn't demonstrated that the lessons of that war were still valid and air-power was still perfectly capable to sink capital ships - something that for the last five years everyone had doubts it would be possible without prohibitive losses.

The radar display in front of Yoshi refreshed. It took him a moment to process what he was seeing and then he was shouting on the top of his lungs: "Contacts! Incoming supersonic missiles!"

"Battle Stations!" The XO, who had the watch, snapped. "Someone call the captain to the CIC!"

Lieutenant Shinoin proceeded to rapid fire approach vectors and numbers – forty large ship-killers were approaching fast skimming low above the waves. Half of the incoming death-dealers were heading straight for _the Kongou_ as if they knew precisely where she was going. The others were flying at her two closest consorts – ten each targeted _Kaga_ and _Sakura_ – a brand new destroyed set up for air-defence and an ASW frigate respectively.

"ECM and Jamming is up and nominal! No enemy radar emissions detected!"

"Either IR or TV guidance then." The XO concluded. "Stand by for counter-measures. I want the close-in defences ready! Are those ship-killers large enough to engage with either IR or radar guided missiles?"

"It might work." The tactical officer nodded vigorously. "Can't guarantee hits but we might get a few."

"Fire everything!" The XO snapped.

Yoshi could do nothing but watch the incoming tracks. He barely paid any attention to what was happening around him until the battle cruiser shook lightly the moment it launched a spread of missiles. Ten new tracks separated from _the Kongou_ and seconds later the _Kaga_ followed suit with the _Sakura_ launching mere four.

The Lieutenant stared at the green screen until the approaching and outgoing dots intersected... and then thirty nine ship-killers continued heading his way. The second salvo was already in the air, though it didn't do much better – this time it got just two of the incoming missiles.

The third was a bust – the ship-killers flew up just when they were about to get hit. That was when the IJN vessels went into rapid fire mode launching both IR and radar-guided ordnance. They were also manoeuvring to present the slimmest possible profile by the time the enemy missiles reached them.

Yoshi just prayed to Kami that it was going to be enough!

"Decoys!" The XO snapped.

"Status report!" An older, calmer voice, added a moment later.

"Captain, Sir!"

Yoshi paid no attention to the old man finally reaching the CIC. His radar got fuzzy as the decoys launched – reflective chaff meant to confuse radar in the last moments before a missile could hit the ship, small but bright balls of burning magnesium and the IJN's special – containers with liquid Sakuradite and gas that took just a handful of seconds to disperse into a cloud before igniting into a huge ball of fire that would blind infra-red and optical guidance alike – perhaps for long enough to cause an enemy missile to miss.

The close-in defences roared to life sending streams of radar-guided fragmentation munition in a last ditch attempt to intercept the incoming missiles.

An explosion shook the whole ship, then another – even closer! Yoshi had just enough time for one last prayer, then the world ended as his forehead slammed into the radar screen he was responsible for.

* * *

 **=ABKR=**

Seconds before they could hit their targets, all the Britannian ship-killers could see was expanding balls of fire dotted by tiny stars hot enough to seduce most IR seekers. Hardened electronics did last moment adjustments meant to strike their targets, blind – they could see nothing through the fire that replaced the juicy targets programmed into their data-banks.

That was when they ran into the closest thing to a wall of steel the close-in defences of their targets could throw.

Missiles got shredded by explosive shells, some didn't even got the honour of detonating their warheads and simply splashed into the sea as expensive lumps of smashed metal. Others blew up raining high velocity of jagged steel like giant shot-gun blasts that scoured the superstructures of the concealed ships. Others simply missed the slim profiles presented of their targets and either harmlessly flew past their prowls or hit the sea and detonated then only shaking the nearby ships. Finally, the wast two of the ship-killers tried to live up to their name. One slammed into the _Kongou's_ bridge, erasing its crew in the heart of a large fireball that caused significant damage to the battle cruiser and covered its front third into burning rocket fuel. The other did in fact live up to its name – it pierced through the thin hide of the _Sakura_ and detonated after smashing half-way through her VLS cells. The resulting explosion blew the hapless frigate out of the later along with her whole crew.

* * *

 **=ABKR=**

 **Part 2**

 **=ABKR=**

 **9 May 2009 A.T.B.**

 **Flag Bridge**

 **IBN Nelson**

 **South China Sea**

Fifteen minutes to midnight, five to effective missile range for the radar guided ordnance. It would be May the tenth when the two fleets entered gunnery range.

Fitting, Admiral Chelsea Williams thought. Eighteen years ago she was one of the first women in the Britannian Navy to serve on the frontlines. As green lieutenant she saw her first naval battle – which was also the last major engagement between surface combatant of the Pacific War. She smiled and placed her gloved hand on the closest bulkhead. Chelsea served on the Nelsonthen too and the brand new girl did bring her home safely after their victory.

The Admiral gave a silent prayer to the gods and refocused her attention on the imminent battle. During the day, bombers sortied three times to strike at Japanese ships with TV-guided missiles. Those Gryphons were the survivors from a massive air raid that somehow managed to take out the heart of a whole Chinese CBG, though details were sparse to even someone in Williams' position. What Chelsea did know for sure – the how she would sell an arm and a leg to figure out and gain the capacity for her command, was that the Japanese Task Force threatening the Philippines was busy consolidating. She knew where, when and a rough number of combatants she would be facing. If it wasn't for scout planes and a submarine confirming that the information from whatever infernal source ONI had among the enemy was spot on, Admiral Williams wouldn't have sailed out to meet them before reinforcements from Pearl arrived. Yet, the three air raids did find and hit something – there were debris, oil and even bodies seen by the scouts and in one case recovered by the submarine Ohio. At least three Japanese ships got hit with one probably sunk if the unrecovered bodies were anything to go by.

Those findings and explicit orders from the new theatre commander for the whole South Asia, who was a prince of the blood no less, forced her hand. To Chelsea pleasant surprise, the information turned out to be spot on. A few hours ago the fleet's scouts detected radar emissions and jamming from enemy sources far beyond the horizon. As ordered, Admiral Williams had her force approach with full EMCON in place that allowed them to come closer to the enemy than it would be usually possible without detection. All it really took was burst tighbeam transmissions feeding her fleet course corrections from the same source that was apparently tracking the Japanese the whole day.

Of course, the charade ended two hours ago when the Britannian fleet approached the suspected detection range of the enemy's shipborne radars against naval targets who tried to appear as holes in the ocean. At that point, Chelsea ordered the radars and jammers back on and the fleet to move in at flank speed. It was only too bad that they reached the enemy during the night. While she could have ordered the fleet's own TV guided missiles launched before dusk, doing so would have alerted the Japanese that she was approaching.

It was a small miracle that the fleet didn't run into any submarines on their way in. It looked like there was just a single one covering their approach vector and it was dealt with early in the afternoon by a pair of Britannian ones vectored into its general area soon after the first air-strike hit the enemy. Chelsea's best guess about that stroke of fortune was that the sub had surfaced for one reason or another and noticed by one of the bombers or their escorts.

"We have firm locations on two more Jap warships. Their Jamming is better than projected. Updating estimated effective engagement range... We'll have positive missile locks in two fifteen minutes, ma'am."

"Finalizing initial strike packages. Admiral?" Asked Commander Liam Hargreaves, William's Operation's officer.

"Fire plan Bravo. No changes." Chelsea confirmed in a voice gruff from ten years of smoking and more than two decades of shouting orders.

Around the Admiral, her staff did their best impression of busy beavers. She allowed herself a tiny smile. They were the best – all hand-picked and trained by herself to excel at their jobs. Ever since the end of the Pacific War, Chelsea knew that round two would be inevitable. War was carved into Britannia's very nature – Napoleon ensured it when he took away her people's birthright. That was why she mercilessly drilled her people into a seamless machine that one day would prove that they were the best sailors, serving in the best navy in the world.

Chelsea's pride would accept nothing less... besides, she did care for her people and she would not allow any of them to ever slack and thus endanger the rest of them!

"Strike package ready. Targets locked in... Time to range..."

"Vampire! Multiple Vampires inbound! Counting twenty plus and rising! ETA one minute!"

Subsonic then. The Admiral frowned. The Japanese obviously had better electronics and missiles than ONI estimated if they could engage her out of her own effective range. At least it wasn't as bad as it could be. If the Japanese were running in order to keep the range open and forced her to shoot from this far away, the odds of scoring successful hits wouldn't be good at all. They either underestimated how many Britannian ships found them, knew something Chelsea didn't or had damaged vessels they were unwilling to abandon.

"Time to target?" The Admiral asked.

"Ten seconds and we can fire!"

Those were perhaps the longest ten seconds of her life. Sixty Japanese missiles flew towards her fleet and that was just the first barrage. A second one of over a hundred came behind it once more enemy ships were just close enough to achieve target locks.

Even before William's fleet made its first shot in anger, it was already fighting for its life – the weapons being AA missiles and the efforts of the EW crews doing their best to drown the control signals guiding the enemy ordnance.

"We're in range. Firing." A loud rumble echoed through the great steel bulk of the _Nelson_ as she ripple fired multiple ship-killers from her VSL cells. Her consorts followed her example and soon over one hundred fifty missiles streaked low above the waves heading for the Japanese ships beyond the horizon.

It wouldn't be long now. Chelsea closed her eyes for a moment then glared at the tactical plot. There were ten ships in the front of the Britannian formation. They were primary older AA and ASW frigates and her two oldest cruisers. All had skeleton crews and by design their EW efforts were just a bit worse than the rest of the fleet.

They were a sacrificial offering meant to give the rest of William's people a chance if Intel was wrong or the Japanese had a nasty surprise ready – like electronics better than anyone expected.

Chelsea's sailors did their best. Jamming, decoys, counter-missiles and close in defences thinned out the Japanese salvoes.

It wasn't enough. Twenty missiles from the first found their marks and six frigates and their crews simply ceased to exist. The second salvo fared even better – it had fewer targets to chose from and less incoming fire slammed into it after the first one hit. Chelsea could imagine what was happening with her vanguard – Sakuradite decoys lit up the night like brighter than the sunrise, reflective chaff did its best to throw up additional ghostly images and in the end the close in defences fired blindly in the burning hell surrounding the ships they desperately tried to protect. Some missiles would lose targeting lock in that mess. Others would barely miss the targets they could no longer see and yet more would fall to barrages of shells. Yet, it wouldn't be enough.

The second Japanese salvo hit. For a few heartbeats the tactical plot didn't change and simply showed the last known locations of the vanguard surrounded by a haze of reflected images and thermal blooms from the decoys. When the screen refreshed, only a single cruiser – John Fawkes, was left. Then it blew up a few seconds later.

Chelsea closed her eyes and said a quiet prayer for her people wishing them Gods speed on their way to Valhalla.

The Admiral glared at the tactical plot. Chelsea hated this – her orders were given and now unless something went terribly wrong she was just an observer. Her staff, the various division commanders and ships captains were running the battle for her. She knew that this was how things were supposed to be – there was no way for her to micromanage without causing a disaster. Back when Williams was a Captain herself, she would have loathed if someone tried to do so to her command.

That awareness was a cold comfort. She hated being helpless and unable to protect her people!

The first Britannian salvo finally hit. Two thirds were gone by the time it reached its targets, yet that still left over fifty missiles spread over nine targets – all fully crewed and modern compared to the ships she sacrificed. Chelsea watched with savage glee how seven of them could no longer be detected and while the remaining two were still afloat they were no longer broadcasting anything. That was nine ships whose VLC cells were no longer in the fight and the same was true for their ability to guide munitions towards the Britannian fleet.

The Admiral's joy got dampened moments later when the first enemy missiles reached her battle line. A frigate simply blew up, followed by a destroyer that ate two ship-killers that erased everything above the waterline. One of her cruisers was hit next, then a missile slammed into the _New Jersey._

Soon enough she would get damage reports. While painful the hits weren't as bad as they could have been. William's fleet was in a good position, the enemy had suffered losses and damage to ships long before she got anywhere near them and more importantly, the next Britannian salvo hit home and more Japanese ships died.

The missile duel went on and on for almost half an hour until both fleets had their VLS cells empty. Half of William's force was simply gone with more than a third of the rest damaged to one degree or another. The Japanese, were down to about forty percent strength... and only had a single battle ship and battle cruiser left as large gun platforms and both had taken hits. They had four assorted cruisers, three of them heavy and the rest were modern thin-skinned combatants. In comparison, Williams had her _Nelson,_ who was blessed by the Gods because she emerged from the missile duel intact, her sister New Jersey, who had lost her number two turret and the bridge, however had the fires under control and ready for combat and two moderately damaged battle cruisers. They were escorted by a pair of armoured cruisers and four meant for air defence that still had their mostly intact. They were all got hit at least once, however, the enemy hadn't fared any better and the Japanese had lost too much speed due to battle damage to get away.

"Close in on the enemy. Concentrate fire on their capital ships." Williams paused. "But before that hail them and ask if they would wish to surrender."


	12. Chapter 7 Parts 3&4

**Disclaimer: I don't own either of the Code Geass, Gundam Seed or Star wars franchises. This story is not written with commercial purpose in mind. I make no money from it. It is not for sale or rent.**

* * *

 **Chapter 7: Drums of war**

 **=ABKR=**

 **Part 3**

 **=ABKR=**

* * *

 **12 May 2009 A.T.B.**

 **The Octagon**

 **Pendragon**

 **HBE/Holy Britannian Empire/**

Commandant Fontaine walked briskly through the maze-like corridors of the Octagon followed by a small pack of aides overseen by his adjutant. His scowl, which has been a permanent fixture to his face since the day the war began, was enough of a warning to clear him a way. With the ongoing conflict in the Pacific and a threat of the EU entering the war, the primary nerve centre of the Britannian military was packed to bursting with officers and enlisted who did their best to ensure that the Imperial war machine operated without a snag. That monumental task was only made harder by political and now Intelligence entanglements. As he walked, Joan barked a constant string of orders to his aides – requests for information, confirmation of unit transfers, demands that certain formations expedited their preparation to move into the Pacific, politely worded "requests" for the Empire's political masters not to interfere any further in the handling of the war, not so polite requests to OSI, ONI and all other intelligence branches to come clean with all the kinds of vital knowledge they kept too close to their chests...

The Commandant's scowl deepened when he finally reached an elevator that led to an underground level separate from the other subterranean portions of the Octagon. He dismissed the rest of his hanger's on, leaving his overworked adjutant. to deal with them for the time being, nodded at the soldiers guarding the entrance point and stood still as they ran a biometrics check on him before allowing him an entry. When that was done, they proceeded to check for bugs and other such equipment that had no place in where he was going.

Once the inevitable scans were done, the guards finally allowed Fontaine to enter the elevator and soon he was ten levels bellow the surface. A short walk through a plain concrete corridor and he entered a small, well furnished and supposedly utterly secure conference room. An oak round table took most of the space inside. It was surrounded by ten comfortable leather chairs and each seat was placed in front of a built in computer terminal that was a part of a closed secure network that could be accessed only through this place and a single station used to enter up to date intelligence to be used by the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Fontaine's three most senior colleagues were already inside seated in their preferred chairs. To the left of the entrance sat Chief General Thomas Barney – who was nominally in charge of the Britannian Army. He was the closest to retirement among the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Barney was a mountain of a man in his early sixties whose muscles were slowly turning to so much fat despite his best attempts to keep in shape. When Thomas looked up at Joan from where he was seating, light shone from his shaved head – which was most certainly shaved because Barney liked it that way and not because he had been getting balder and balder for the past decade.

"It's good you managed to get away for this meeting, Jo." Thomas' deep voice rumbled across the room. His brown eyes were sympathetic too – everyone present knew who Fontaine met earlier that morning.

"It's good he still has his rank." This came from Fleet Admiral George Nimitz – the man who built Britannia back to a respectable naval power during and after the Pacific War.

"George." Fontaine nodded and got to his own seat. "I'm happy to say that barring a major fuck up I won't be 'retiring' until the war is over. Apparently I've got the Emperor's trust, if not his ear." Joan looked tiredly at the Admiral.

Nimitz's piercing blue eyes stared back. All of them expected that the Emperor would request a change of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs at the very least – no matter if the Euros entered the fray or not this war was going to be primary a naval one and George was the one most suited to run it. That in fact was one of the reasons why Fontaine met the Emperor that morning – Li Britannia was not only Army but a junior inexperienced officer thrown into a position where he was obvious over his head. Joan had to give it to the kid – what he did in Indochina was amazing, especially given how much experimental equipment he had to use there. What happened later... if he was honest, while amazing it both should have been impossible and proved the fact that the Prince had no business being theatre commander.

Unfortunately the Emperor didn't agree. He was in fact amused by Fontaine's arguments but at least didn't dismiss him as he feared might happen.

Nimitz rubbed a scarred cheek weathered by years spent at sea, then drew a hand through his greying hair. There were still a few signs showing that once he was a brown haired man, though unless one looked closely, these days all they could see would be a short mop of steel grey hairs.

"Did he at least give you access to whatever secret programs Li Britannia uses to track the Chinese and Japanese?" George asked. He didn't sound particularly happy about the obvious nepotism endangering the most important war Britannia found herself in since the dawn of the century.

Fontaine shook his head in denial. "Not a word. However, the Emperor implied that we won't enjoy the same 'luck' in other theatres of operation any time soon."

The last member of the small group that for all intents and purposes ran the Britannian military scoffed at that information. "The Emperor's aware what will happen if we are unable to secure Japan?" Air Marshal Nimroy Leer asked.

At the tender age of fifty-three he was the youngest of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the only one who might see the next decade's end before being forced into retirement. If Britannia won this war anyway. Leer was also the only one of the men with a more exotic hair colour – royal blue of all things, though there was more than enough grey there to underline his age, which wasn't easy to figure out given his youthful features.

"Trust me, he knows." Fontaine sighed. "Apparently that's why went over our heads and put his son in charge of the whole theatre of operations. My best guess is that OSI has a few people deep in both the Chinese and Japanese navy able to feed close to real time information about fleet deployments and they're feeding the data directly to Li Britannia to make use of. That certainly pans with the AARs we've got about the naval strikes and engagements he ordered. The Prince flew with the air-strike that took out the Heavenly Dragon CBG and he not only led each raid that softened up the Japanese but was in the air and guided William's Task Force right to the IJN as they concentrated their force in the area to better resist air-attacks."

"That's invaluable information we need for operational planning!" Nimitz snapped. "It would have been nice to know the Japanese had better electronics before Williams found it the hard way!"

"At least our boffins will have the sensor records of that battle soon. A plane carrying them will be arriving in a few hours." The Air Marshal pointed out.

"Speaking about planes..." Barney looked questionably at Leer.

"We got both detailed AARs and sensor records from the air-strike at the Chinese yesterday. My people are going over them with a fine toothed comb. What I can say for certain is that they make as little sense as the preliminary reports we got."

"So a fabrication?" Thomas scowled.

"No. We've got multiple Chinese ships burning and sinking caught on camera – more than enough to conclude that the reported kill counts are reasonably accurate. I still have no idea how they pulled it off though." Leer waved at his naval counterpart. "We've had people war-gaming the battle last night. Absolutely the best outcome we got was sinking a number of Chinese capital ships and damaging the carrier, possibly enough to at least mission kill it for the rest of the war at the cost of every single plane that took part in that battle. That happened once and it was more luck than anything else. My personal guess? We tested some other secret weapons upon the Chinese, probably from the same program that got us the Thors li Britannia deployed. Probably EMP or something else that messed up the Chinese electronics, deployed either by sub that got close enough undetected or more likely the Prince used the fighter force he sent ahead to deal with the carrier air wing as a cover to deploy it."

"And no one deigned to inform us of its existence?" Thomas grumbled.

"That's merely an educated guess. One moment the Chinese were acting as we would expect from a well trained modern navy, then in the next – it was like they couldn't properly see and engage our planes. Nothing we've heard from the Pacific before or after implies that equipment installed on our fighters and bombers was responsible, that includes AARs from our surviving pilots and some discrete inquires with the ground staff that either already evacuated to the Philippines or is still in Indochina." Leer shrugged. "So it was either some kind of secret weapon that li Britannia was tasked with combat testing or we got a genuine divine intervention in our favour." The Air Marshal snorted. "You can guess where I'll put my money on."

Three pairs of eyes focused on Fontaine. "As I already told you, whatever it is, the Emperor doesn't believe it could be deployed to another theatre of operations."

"So it's like the Thors then." Leer nodded. "High tech, hard to manufacture and we'll likely lack the resources to see useful numbers produced until we secure Japan's Sakuradite reserves."

When the Joint Chiefs got briefed on the Thors' expected performance and then got preliminary estimate from intelligence on the damage they caused to the Chinese, they were all elated. That was surely a war-winning weapon by itself.

Then reality ensured – producing the things wasn't easy and required too much highly refined Sakuradite that was also necessary for a great many other things – superconductors that were invaluable in modern military and industrial applications. What was worse, once used in a Thor, that precious resource was lost after the warhead was launched. The same wasn't true for a number of other vital applications, even military, where it could be retrieved and recycled for use.

"In the next four weeks we might get ten or so cruise missile warheads with either another five of those or twenty smaller meant for tactical use if we get lucky with the production process. Apparently we got very lucky with the first batches and we did blew through a painful percentage of our strategic reserve to get that done." The Air Marshal explained. It was another thing they all knew, though repeating it was useful to underscore the point. Capturing Japan was vital for the future of the Empire.

"It's going to be conventional slugging match then. Can we win such a naval war?" The Chief General asked.

"Right now?" Nimitz looked back impassively. "It's possible, however I can't make any guarantees. As you all know, the navy's strategic goal is to be able to engage and defeat both the Euros and the Chinese. Right now we're years from reaching a point where I could say we might be able to do it with any confidence. A fight with the Federation, Japan and the EU is our worst case scenario. The IJN is the fourth largest navy in the world and the most modern – which should be obvious considering that they had to practically rebuild it after the Pacific War. While their order of battle is skewed towards numerous lighter combatants – a lot of frigates and destroyers with much less capital ships than raw numbers would imply, they aren't an enemy to underestimate. We should be able to take on the Chinese and Japanese once we can concentrate the bulk of our Pacific fleet against them. Should mind you – I can't give you better news before we get a better read of the Chinese capabilities, which should happen sometime tomorrow. Essex's CBG is on intercept course with Lu Bei's and unless our Federation friends decide to pull back and avoid battle they'll meet shortly before dusk tonight, local time. The wild card is the Euros, especially the Russian Pacific fleet. If they enter the war, the absolutely best we can hope for in the Pacific is a bloody draw..." Nimitz smiled grimly. "Barring the further deployment of any secret weapons that might or might not exist. I've got my contacts with OSI ask pointed questions, I've lit a fire under ONI's collective feet but no one seems to know nothing about what li Britannia's really doing and why was he put in charge."

A short while later it became clear that no one have learned anything new from their contacts, no matter how many favours they were owed and called due. That was both heartening and disturbing – on one hand, whatever secret project li Britannia was obviously part of had simply ridiculously good security. On the other hand, considering what everyone knew happened to his family in the aftermath of Empress Marianne's assassination, put a nasty political spin on the whole affair. Did the Emperor use the murder of his wife as a smokescreen? Would court politics interfere even further with the war?

* * *

 **=ABKR=**

 **Part 4**

 **=ABKR=**

 **12 May 2009 A.T.B.**

 **Emperor's Command and Control bunker**

 **The Forbidden City**

 **Chinese Federation**

Ten people stood at attention in front of Emperor Jiang Li, the man who in theory ruled the Chinese Federation. Unfortunately, what most people believed, was at best a creative interpretation of the truth.

Eight of the men, who stood together to his right were the High Eunuchs. They were merely the latest crop of bureaucrats who for all intents and purposes ran China. It could be said that most countries had bureaucracies that made sure they ran properly. In the Chinese Federation however, the bureaucracy had a country. While as Emperor, Jiang had vast powers, they tended to curiously melt to almost nothing when the High Eunuchs decided to oppose him. Even the loyalty of the military wasn't a substantial enough protection against their ploys. The Federation part of the country wasn't exactly a lie. Each of the Eunuchs did control substantial forces that were either loyal to them or had one of the warlords in charge of the different parts of the country in their pocket.

When the Britannian Empire dared set foot in Asia all those years ago, Jiang's predecessor foolishly didn't do his best to kick them out while doing so would have been a much simpler and less bloody affair. In his defence, at that that time the Kingdom of Burma was more of a rival than a satellite. Along with India it was in fact the last major rival they had a land border with, if one didn't count the bear to the north.

The ageing Emperor narrowed his eyes at the people supposed to serve him. A few days ago, his position was stronger – that was before the Navy lost a large part of a Carrier Battle Group to a Britannian air-raid of all things. The worst thing was that no one was really sure how that happened. There were rumours of yet _another_ secret Britannian weapon that damaged that fleet and even effected the crews in ways that were hard to believe. Some were fast to throw the blame at the navy, accusing it of incompetence. Many of the Eunuchs were in that group, though Jiang knew that they didn't really believe that narrative. They knew better – the state of the worst hit crew-members who got air-lifted to the Chinese mainland for evaluation was a proof enough that something happened to them and their fleet. That was simply a convenient excuse for the bastards!

The Emperor had to spent most of the political capital he had left to ensure his realm went to war with the Britannians before they could take Burma and thus gain a reasonably secure invasion corridor into China. As it was, the Federation was surrounded with enemies. India was still being subdued. The Europeans were both to the north and west and with the Britannians to the east, China's situation wasn't great. The Eunuchs knew it too, however they had other plans on how to deal with the threat. Plans that infuriated him... even if they might just work in the fullness of time. If India's population could be assimilated, the Chinese Federation would have more than a third of the world's population under her aegis. Then if the Eunuch's proposal did work, they could have Britannia on their side and eventually overtake it from within.

All Jiang had to do was sacrifice his daughter in a political marriage with Britannia – something he might have considered if someone sane sat on the Britannian throne. With Charles, given the man's policies, any such marriage would see little Lihua dead the moment it became convenient for the Britannians. For the Eunuchs that was an acceptable risk. After all, Jiang had only one child and no other relatives who might prove a rallying point against the bureaucracy. He was reasonably sure that at least half the Eunuchs were looking hopefully to consigning Lihua to a marriage in the Britannian Empire with the rest hoping to use her as a figurehead.

Yet, he had no proof of their true intentions and without it, trying to remove them would at best throw the realm in a civil war. That would have been bad enough before they were fighting the Britannians. Now? His desperate move to check the ambitions of both Charles Zi Britannia and his own bureaucrats tied up his hands.

That fact would only become more apparent if someone could look at the circumstances that allowed Jiang to successfully push for the war. It was only the perceived weakness on the Britannian part that came with the assassination of their Empress and the short lived rebellion in South America that made it all possible.

Jiang scowled. As if an ally that bordered China being invaded wasn't a reason enough to go to war. It was days like these when he loathed his predecessors nearly to the point of apoplexy for allowing the bureaucracy to become so powerful that it practically ran China to serve its own best interests.

The Emperor sighed and turned his tired gaze upon the two military officers. Two of his Warlords who supposedly answered only to him. One of them was bought and paid for by the Eunuchs. The other – Admiral Lian, was one of the few people Jiang could count on, yet the naval defeat reflected bad on him. It was all Li could do to save his old time friend and ally – just barely and that happy state of affairs simply wouldn't persist for long if there was yet another naval disaster.

"Report." It was all Jiang could do to force his voice to sound strong and matter of fact.

"Lu Bei's battle group will engage the Britannian's tonight. We have submarines and recon aircraft in the vicinity ready to observe the battle. The fleet has taken all possible precautions against biological and chemical agents." Lian stated calmly. He certainly didn't sound like a man whose career and possibly life depended on the outcome of the impending battle. "Intelligence shared by our Japanese Allies and confirmed by our agents in Japan indicates that conventionally their navy has capabilities roughly equal to the IJN's and thus our own, however the Britannian Task Force they engaged did have less advanced electronics."

Lian tactfully didn't mention that Japan likely had better electronics than the bulk of the Chinese navy barring the newest ships and those who benefited by the latest round of refits. Another thing no one would mention in this company was that said refit program was prompted by data and technology either bought or stolen by the Japanese.

"More excuses!" Zhao Hao – the largest and... plumpest Eunuch sneered. "It was your people's incompetence that saw us lose so many important assets, not to mention face!"

The Admiral simply looked back impassively, declining to take the bait. "Barring further unforeseen complications, we soon will be able to test the enemy's naval capabilities for ourselves. Considering the rough parity of the forces about to engage in combat, we foresee a bloody engagement. However, we do need to find out if the Britannians do indeed have other unpleasant surprises like their Thor warheads." Lian looked at the Eunuchs. "Has Intelligence been able to gain any more information about those?" He asked.

It was time for the Eunuchs to look uncomfortably. All Chinese intelligence efforts, except a small agency that oversaw the security of the Imperial Family was their responsibility and they did miss something that could very well become a war winning weapon.

"All we have now is unconfirmed rumours that these Thors are Sakuradite based weapon – something confirmed after careful examination of the damaged areas." Xia Wang – the most technocratic of the Eunuchs said. "While at this time we have only preliminary assessments, our scientists find it unlikely that we'll see too many of those weapons in the future. Their best guess is that highly refined Sakuradite was used as a fuel for the warheads and if this is true, the Britannians simply can't afford to make many of them as long as they're at war with Japan."

"Then we have to do our utmost to prevent them from taking our ally's Sakuradite deposits." The Emperor stated the obvious. That was the third and final reason why he pushed for a war with Britannia now. The increasingly antagonistic stance of the Japanese government towards the Empire could have ended in only one way and Jiang didn't want to imagine what the warmongers to the east would do with control of the world's largest deposits of Sakuradite and thus economy – and that was before the new weapons they unleashed upon his people. Now... Wining this war or at least preventing Britannia from achieving its obvious strategic objective was more vital than ever.

For the first time, the Eunuchs voiced their collective agreement in support of the war. It was another question how genuine that was.

"We do need to plan for any unexpected turn of events." Cheng Zhong – the shortest and the oldest of the Eunuchs said as he threw a dirty look at Lian. "If our scientists are wrong about the feasibility of building the new weapons or in case of further naval incompetence..." He shrugged.

Cai Lishi – another short old man, smiled sadly before he spoke up. "China must endure no matter what. By strength of arms if at all possible. If not... in the end we didn't defeat the Mongols on the field, no matter how much we tried. Yet here we are today, enduring still." He fixed Jiang with a kind gaze that both of them knew concealed a dangerous viper.

"That is something I've taken into consideration." Li nodded.

Jiang simply loathed what he was about to do, yet... If the war was lost... or if the Eunuchs decided that it wasn't in their best interest to continue it any longer... Then he would have to do what was best for his people and if at all possible, his daughter. The sad truth was that if the worst happen, Lihua was likely doomed. As a pawn of those bastards, she might not live long past reaching her adulthood. As a reluctant bride to a Britannian prince – the same was likely true.

"And if it comes to that, we will do what it takes for China to endure." Jiang stated. "Leave us. We'll reconvene after the battle. Lian, a word."

The Admiral walked until he was standing a respectful distance from the throne and both of them waited for the others to leave the room. Only then the Emperor allowed himself to relax and he slumped back in the uncomfortable chair. He raised his hands and winced at how much they trembled. Jiang was running out of time, for himself, his nation and his daughter.

"It's getting worse." Lian sighed when he saw the real condition of his friend.

"I noticed." Li scowled. Now his voice sounded as tired as he felt. "Don't sugar-coat it. What are our chances."

"I told the truth – unless the Britannians pull off the same stunt again, whatever that was, our navy should give as good as it gets. While our ships' technological level isn't as good as it should be across the board, the best Britannian units are in the Atlantic. Conventionally we've good odds, especially with the IJN as an ally. However..." He trailed off.

They both saw the doctor's preliminary reports. Whatever the Britannians used in crippled the crews, not the equipment of the fleet. Those hit worst had noticeable brain damage with the others reporting frankly impossible things.

"I know you and your men would do everything you possible can, Lian. The bastards are right about one thing – we do have to plan for the worst. Your family?" Jiang asked.

"They're already hidden. I've got trustworthy ONI personnel spoofing the State Security goons' eyes. What about Lihua?" Lian inquired.

"I honestly don't know. There are days I believe that once I'm gone she might be safer and happier in Britannia – until they decide its time for her to suffer a fatal accident." The Emperor admitted.

"I've been thinking..." Lian began.

"Always a dangerous thing around here." Li smiled wanly. "Do you see something I do not my friend?"

"We do have sources in Britannia, including a few in their court. They got us a few juicy rumours about certain members of the royal family."

"Anything of use?"

"Potentially. You aren't going to like it."

Lian was right, Jiang most certainly didn't like the madness his friend brainstormed as a contingency in case everything fell apart around them. In fact it was so insane that it might just work, however the dangers...

Li closed his eyes and wondered. He knew his end was fast approaching – no matter if it would be thanks to the Eunuch's machinations or the sickness ravaging his body. What was more important to him? His nation or his daughter? Could he sacrifice one to save the other? Could sacrificing one save the other, perhaps that was the better question.

Jiang prayed that this would be one decision he wouldn't have to make.


End file.
